{"id":6959,"date":"2015-12-09T22:47:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T03:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-beauty-full-monthly-gift\/"},"modified":"2015-12-09T23:04:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T04:04:58","slug":"birchbox-a-beauty-full-monthly-gift","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/birchbox-a-beauty-full-monthly-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"BirchBox: A BEAUTY-FULL monthly gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beauty industry has been giving away free small samples to promote their products for decades. HBS alumni Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna have successfully convinced over 800,000 subscribers across the globe to pay $10 a month for a small box of these otherwise free products. At its core, the BirchBox business model enables the woman who is \u201ctoo busy to (or not interested in)\u201d sifting through the cluttered and crowded retail space a convenient and personalized way to discover new beauty products without leaving her home.<\/p>\n

The beauty industry has\u00a0no shortage of information about brands or products in fashion magazines, blogs and online forums. Many spend hours poring over these resources and testing new products to add to their beauty repertoire. Hayley explained to a small group of women at a fireside chat on campus earlier this year that before starting BirtchBox, she wasn\u2019t one of these people. Hayley relied on her best friend Molly, who worked as an editor at Vogue, to carefully follow trends and recommend new products. When starting BirtchBox, Hayley hoped to create that same trusted relationship with her customers.<\/p>\n

As HBS students entering their EC year, Hayley and Katia thoughtfully designed their innovative operating model to not only align with, but reinforce their core business model and value proposition. The operating model includes three components, a subscription model for payment, a delivery system, and an online presence through BirchBox.com.<\/p>\n

Subscription payment model and delivery system<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

BirtchBox employs a subscription model through which, after one simple subscription sign-up and a predictable, fixed payment, Birchbox sends to the customer\u2019s home 4-6 samples of new products or brands without the customer having to step foot outside, read a single review or ever pull out their wallets.\u00a0 Adding to that the excitement of discovery, the products come in a nicely packed box resembling a present. Birchbox\u2019s subscription model was one of the first of its kind in the CPG space and was designed to deliver on the promise of convenience while maximizing opportunities for their customers to discover new products.<\/p>\n

The fixed and predicable nature of the subscription model leaves the customer facing a value proposition only once.\u00a0 And, it makes revenue for BirchBox predictable, simplifying modeling and projections.<\/p>\n

BirchBox.com<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

BirchBox.com compliments the monthly beauty box delivery by providing short descriptions of each product, tutorials on how to use the products, and a marketplace for purchasing full size versions.<\/p>\n

Tutorials play a critical role in extending the \u201cplace of discovery\u201d promise beyond just providing new products on a monthly basis. Through easy to access videos and tips, BirchBox provides simple explanations of how to use each new product and often suggests new ways to use familiar beauty and grooming products. This additional, concierge-like service model enhances the personalized value proposition and helps deepen BirtchBox\u2019s relationship with its customer base.<\/p>\n

Additionally, online customer behavior such as page views, product reviews and purchases provides rich data that the BirchBox team can use to better match individuals with products each month as well as provide additional insight to retailers on how to improve their product offerings or better target \u201cthe right\u201d customers. This iterative process and continuous feedback from customers is critical to the curation and personalization of each box and only improves a customer\u2019s experience over time as BirchBox\u2019s product matching algorithms learn an individual\u2019s specific preferences.<\/p>\n

At the\u00a0fireside chat earlier this year, Hayley shared that she and Katia had many moments where they questioned both their business and operating model early on as they experienced natural growing pains as well as when they started to see great success. As their business grew, the business community and entrepreneurs took notice and a plethora of \u201ccopycat\u201d models emerged both within and outside of the beauty space (e.g., NatureBox and PawPack). While the founders were tempted to leverage their scale, experience and brand to compete in these areas, they honed in on their mission and continued to focus their efforts and operating model on creating \u201cthe smartest and fastest way to shop for beauty and grooming products.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/mashable.com\/2014\/06\/16\/unique-business-models\/#iDm42tG59Sqm<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/eshachhabra\/2015\/09\/23\/key-to-success-beauty-box-company-birchbox-says-its-not-just-about-the-box\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/birchbox-success-in-small-packages\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3028362\/lessons-learned\/what-happened-when-birchboxs-founders-refused-to-take-no-for-an-answer<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/naturebox.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/pawpack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BirchBox provides a smart, fast and fun way to shop for beauty products through its innovative subscription payment and delivery model and supporting online offerings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":744,"featured_media":6985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-6959","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/the-tom-challenge-tom-winners-and-losers-assignment\/","yoast_head":"\nBirchBox: A BEAUTY-FULL monthly gift - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/birchbox-a-beauty-full-monthly-gift\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BirchBox: A BEAUTY-FULL monthly gift - 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