Subscription Commerce

Here's the first of six profiles of retail industry game changers. Today's interview is with Meaghan Rose, founder and CEO of Rocksbox, a premium jewelry subscription service. (This is Total Retail's second annual profile of entrepreneurs disrupting the retail industry. Here are last year's: Rachel Shechtman, STORY; Ryan Babenzien, Greats; MaryAnn Bekkedahl, Keep; Vishaal Melwani,…

It’s a whole new retail game out there. Digital disrupters — i.e., companies and/or people with digital models that disrupt a profitable, even booming, industry such as retail — are the new normal. These companies generally make the same products and offer the same services as the companies they’re disrupting, but make them readily available…

A trend playing out across industries shows that consumers are increasingly forgoing the security and prestige of owning objects for the affordable flexibility of on-demand access and upgrades to the latest and greatest products without up-front investments. And like many things, the trend is driven by changing preferences of new generations. Think of the baby…

Yesterday, Dollar Shave Club, a subscription-based retail startup built on the idea of inexpensive razors, was acquired by Unilever. The European consumer goods giant purchased Dollar Shave Club in an all-cash deal for around $1 billion (yes, you read that correctly), according to The New York Times. With the acquisition, Unilever — which own brands…

Subscription beauty service Birchbox has let go an additional 30 employees, this coming five months after the startup cut 15 percent of its staff. Birchbox Founder and CEO Katia Beauchamp announced in a blog post on Tuesday that the original cuts (50 of 300 employees) were too conservative. This week's layoffs are part of a…

Subscription e-commerce services like Birchbox and Dollar Shave Club are fairly simple business models that, when done right, are a win-win for both consumers and retailers. Consumers enjoy a low maintenance shopping experience, while retailers are rewarded with stickier customer retention and a more predictable cash flow. Over the past few years, we’ve seen this…

Who has time to shop for golf attire? Your PGA teaching professional at Bogeybox Golf Club can help with that.

In April, Lands’ End announced it was relaunching Canvas, a collection of clothes aimed at younger, style-conscious shoppers that debuted back in 2009 only to be abandoned several years later when executives decided its aesthetic wasn't quite distinctive enough from the main brand. Still, the label had a bit of a cult following among fashion bloggers,…

In today’s digital economy, innovators are quickly entering and creating new markets. Companies like Birchbox, RocksBox and Dollar Shave Club have changed the way consumers shop by using a subscription-based model. This approach enables brands to gain critical customer data that can be used to retain customers in an evolving and competitive market while boosting…

Amazon will offer a monthly version of its Prime membership program in a move that challenges rival Netflix and gives customers new subscription options. Starting Sunday, the Seattle-based retail giant will sell a monthly Prime membership for its video streaming service at $8.99 per month — one dollar less than Netflix’s standard offering — along with a $10.99 per month option…