As the subscription box industry became more crowded this year, beauty and personal care businesses started to test new waters.
Some players, like Ipsy, made the move from fixed, monthly subscriptions to flexible plans, while others, like Dollar Shave Club, diversified further away from only selling hero products. Finally, brands drove customers to physical retail stores to expand their reach — Birchbox did so through a partnership with Walgreens.
The subscription model will continue to be a source of recurring revenue, with even the Squarespace platform tailoring its business model to facilitate easier repeat purchases for beauty and personal care merchant shops, and differentiators were key in 2018.