On July 19th, Definition 6 in New York City hosted a great event for the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) group out on our patio where we gathered to hear Katia Beauchamp, CEO/Co-Founder of Birchbox and Gwen Flamberg, Beauty Director of Us Weekly talk about how the online beauty retail marketplace is changing rapidly and what "subscribing to beauty" means to this new brand.
Birchbox is a gift that just keeps on giving. I think that whether you’re a male or female, we can all agree that there is nothing better than getting a present every month that is chock full of surprises. And, believe me when I say that Birchbox is a fantastic gift.
So, just what exactly is Birchbox you ask? (No, we’re not talking about trees or shrubs here.) We’re talking about a gift that comes in a neat little package to your doorstep every month, and inside this box you’ll find an amazing selection of beauty-related products that are tied to the things that you desire. For a mere $10/month, consumers get 4-5 deluxe samples of high-end beauty products. But, before you get your first box, you will be asked to fill out a beauty profile where you can select the types of products you’re interested in. Birchbox wants to get to know their customers better so that they can help increase the amount of products that are purchased on their site.
All of the great brand partnerships and products they offer are tied to an online Birchbox Magazine, so that everything matches an editorial calendar with monthly themes to create further Birchbox community interaction online; things like hair issues during the summer, or how to’s for travel. They’re in the “business of delight” as CEO Beauchamp indicated. They came up with the idea for this kind of online beauty business model because they felt that beauty can’t completely live online. There is a tangible aspect that needs to happen at some point because people want to get their full five senses involved when choosing beauty products. At first, the founders had to knock on high-end brands’ doors to get them involved and try something new, but now brands are knocking on their door, with a growing client base and over 16,000 likes on their Facebook page. The Birchbox business model also uses social media channel activation, but has that “retro” feel since their product is sent through the mail (that thing called USPS we all forget exists).
Rich media and editorial content about every product and brand they work with is a gold mine of information that sits within Birchbox.com:
The products included in the monthly box range from skincare items, to makeup, hair / body products, and fragrances. They’re sometimes full-sized items or they’ll be sample-sized items, but the best part is that if you absolutely adore any of the items you receive, you simply go to Birchbox.com and buy them there. I need to mention as well that they have developed a great loyalty rewards program. As you buy and share Birchbox with your friends, you see $10 gift cards come your way.
Personally, I’ve been a Birchbox subscriber since January 2011, and they had officially launched only in September of 2010, so I guess you could say that I am an early adopter! Their first year anniversary is coming up here in September, and what a year it has been for Birchbox execs.
Let’s face it. At the end of the day, brands want advocates. Having a strong base of people who love a brand keeps their ideas fresh, alive and moving forward to help drive further adoption. And who doesn’t love samples??
As mentioned, Birchbox was built through strong social media activations, and the Birchbox brand has been growing because customers get their friends involved, and then their friends get their friends involved. This type of crowdsourcing platform is creating a strong momentum for Birchbox that is keeping their acquisition of new customers going up and up. The buzz Birchbox has received all happened organically, and through this organic growth they can now offer the brands they partner with global access to consumers. This is obviously something they couldn’t be happier about, so Birchbox is truly changing the way consumers shop for beauty products online, and I think that we can expect great things from them. I personally trust the Birchbox brand, which is the key to building long-term, loyal customers.
Birchbox is a gift that just keeps on giving. I think that whether you’re a male or female, we can all agree that there is nothing better than getting a present every month that is chock full of surprises. And, believe me when I say that Birchbox is a fantastic gift.
So, just what exactly is Birchbox you ask? (No, we’re not talking about trees or shrubs here.) We’re talking about a gift that comes in a neat little package to your doorstep every month, and inside this box you’ll find an amazing selection of beauty-related products that are tied to the things that you desire. For a mere $10/month, consumers get 4-5 deluxe samples of high-end beauty products. But, before you get your first box, you will be asked to fill out a beauty profile where you can select the types of products you’re interested in. Birchbox wants to get to know their customers better so that they can help increase the amount of products that are purchased on their site.
All of the great brand partnerships and products they offer are tied to an online Birchbox Magazine, so that everything matches an editorial calendar with monthly themes to create further Birchbox community interaction online; things like hair issues during the summer, or how to’s for travel. They’re in the “business of delight” as CEO Beauchamp indicated. They came up with the idea for this kind of online beauty business model because they felt that beauty can’t completely live online. There is a tangible aspect that needs to happen at some point because people want to get their full five senses involved when choosing beauty products. At first, the founders had to knock on high-end brands’ doors to get them involved and try something new, but now brands are knocking on their door, with a growing client base and over 16,000 likes on their Facebook page. The Birchbox business model also uses social media channel activation, but has that “retro” feel since their product is sent through the mail (that thing called USPS we all forget exists).
Rich media and editorial content about every product and brand they work with is a gold mine of information that sits within Birchbox.com:
The products included in the monthly box range from skincare items, to makeup, hair / body products, and fragrances. They’re sometimes full-sized items or they’ll be sample-sized items, but the best part is that if you absolutely adore any of the items you receive, you simply go to Birchbox.com and buy them there. I need to mention as well that they have developed a great loyalty rewards program. As you buy and share Birchbox with your friends, you see $10 gift cards come your way.
Personally, I’ve been a Birchbox subscriber since January 2011, and they had officially launched only in September of 2010, so I guess you could say that I am an early adopter! Their first year anniversary is coming up here in September, and what a year it has been for Birchbox execs.
Let’s face it. At the end of the day, brands want advocates. Having a strong base of people who love a brand keeps their ideas fresh, alive and moving forward to help drive further adoption. And who doesn’t love samples??
As mentioned, Birchbox was built through strong social media activations, and the Birchbox brand has been growing because customers get their friends involved, and then their friends get their friends involved. This type of crowdsourcing platform is creating a strong momentum for Birchbox that is keeping their acquisition of new customers going up and up. The buzz Birchbox has received all happened organically, and through this organic growth they can now offer the brands they partner with global access to consumers. This is obviously something they couldn’t be happier about, so Birchbox is truly changing the way consumers shop for beauty products online, and I think that we can expect great things from them. I personally trust the Birchbox brand, which is the key to building long-term, loyal customers.
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