Subscription based businesses provide regularity and continuity of income. If you have a subscription-based business, you start each month knowing that you have some foundation income you can rely upon. So what makes a good basis for a subscription business? Well in a nutshell, the subscription business model tends to lend itself to products which are needed regularly and consumable. Two UK businesses I came across recently fit the bill nicely.
‘Kopi’ send its subscribers a different gourmet coffee each month. The company place great emphasis on the quality and freshness of their product, and the fact that each blend is carefully selected by experts. Trinkets offers something which fits the regularity and consumability criteria just as well – if not better. Tampons. Customers get the choice of 3, 4 or 5 week delivery cycles (no pun intended) depending on their personal requirements.
Although the consumable/regularity criteria are in place for both businesses, each has an additional and separate advantage. With Trinkets, it’s the convenience of having something necessary delivered to the door without having to think about it. With Kopi it’s the pleasure and excitement to be had from getting something new and different delivered each month.
I’ve looked at a lot of subscription businesses over the past year or so and I’m sure there are many more lucrative opportunities out there. Think in terms of the key criteria and you won’t go far wrong.