Blog & Media
Insights, musings, and strategies on the future of commerce & subscriptions
Lessons in retention and LTV 800 533 Scriberbase

Lessons in retention and LTV

A lot of subscription brands are fearful of giving more control to the consumer; specifically when it comes to their subscription plan. We’ve come across plenty of organizations who under-invest in customer support, live agent servicing, etc.,…

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The 3 types of subscription models 800 304 Scriberbase

The 3 types of subscription models

If your company is thinking about launching a subscription model, read on. Below is a description of the most common subscription models and some familiar company use cases. For b2c businesses, there are essentially 3 types of…

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What TikTok can tell us about the future of e-commerce 700 300 Scriberbase

What TikTok can tell us about the future of e-commerce

I’ve been thinking a lot about what TikTok can tell us about the future of e-commerce, and potentially the economy more broadly. While inflation and supply chain woes plague many businesses, a brief ‘08 financial crisis’ history…

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What’s the new SEPHORA subscription about, and will it work? 666 333 Scriberbase

What’s the new SEPHORA subscription about, and will it work?

Yup. They’ve nailed it. For ~$50/year, members gain access to unlimited same-day delivery. Moreover, beauty insiders get free shipping with no minimums required and can sign up for auto-replenishment of their favourite products on a…

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Is this the right move for Netflix? 800 449 Scriberbase

Is this the right move for Netflix?

Netflix stock price is up over 5% on the news that the company will introduce an ad-supported, lower-priced tier ($6.99/month). Importantly, Netflix has always had certain levers at its disposal to appease investors short-term, including raising prices…

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Retention is a major focus for subscription companies 800 450 Scriberbase

Retention is a major focus for subscription companies

Yet, historically, companies haven’t understood how to manage churn. For example, most don’t realize that there’s a key difference between voluntary and involuntary churn – the former being a customer service problem, and the latter being…

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Voice recognition and subscriptions 700 300 Scriberbase

Voice recognition and subscriptions

The subscription economy is poised to provide a fully automated shopping experience – where the majority of consumer goods get purchased by subscribing, selecting a frequency of delivery, and checking out using ‘voice recognition’. Yes, this means…

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‘Uber One’ highlights the evolution of paid loyalty 700 300 Scriberbase

‘Uber One’ highlights the evolution of paid loyalty

Uber’s membership program follows what we call, the Amazon Prime formula. Prime Formula = ANCHOR BENEFIT + 2 or more complementary benefits. In the case of Prime, the ‘anchor benefit’ is free shipping/ often same-day delivery. Complementary…

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An Amazon war story shows the importance of a cash nest egg 612 408 Scriberbase

An Amazon war story shows the importance of a cash nest egg

An Amazon war story helps provide executives with hints as to how best to navigate today’s economic environment. The dot-com bubble burst of 2000, and Amazon’s strategy to stock and hoard cash, is indicative of what today’s eCommerce businesses…

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Can any product business move to subscription? 700 300 Scriberbase

Can any product business move to subscription?

Recently, I’ve been asked about whether any product business can move to a subscription model … Short answer: No. Finding the right subscription category fit is a good first step in assessing whether or not a business…

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E2 #124: Vinyl Me, Please 700 300 Scriberbase

E2 #124: Vinyl Me, Please

Max Fiedler is the co-founder and former CEO of record-of-the-month club Vynil Me, Please (VMP). Since launching in 2013, Matt successfully took the business from a passion project to a globally recognized brand in more…

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How to get buyers to make repeat purchases 700 300 Scriberbase

How to get buyers to make repeat purchases

Shopping, in the traditional sense, involves a buyer and a seller. A potential buyer learns about a product, usually from exposure to branded marketing, and if it’s compelling enough to buy, they do so via…

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The importance of data and personalization 700 300 Scriberbase

The importance of data and personalization

Here are some insights on the importance of data and personalization when scaling a subscription model. The success of companies such as Stitch Fix, a company that built their business around data and personalization, reveals an…

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Where do big subscription businesses fail 800 450 Scriberbase

Where do big subscription businesses fail

When CBS Records formed a new direct-mail division of Columbia—the Columbia Record Club, in 1955—the new subscription club turned the industry upside down. Columbia began as an experiment in selling music through the mail. To attract attention…

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The power of influencer marketing 700 300 Scriberbase

The power of influencer marketing

The power of influencer marketing on the web cannot be over-stated. Data from MuseFind, an influencer marketing platform, shows 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. Influencer clout continues…

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The importance of brand reputation 800 450 Scriberbase

The importance of brand reputation

Holding the so-called ‘FAANG’ stocks can leave you pretty sweaty these days. The exclusive class of world-dominating tech companies whose market cap back in March 2019, was ~$3 trillion, has seen better days. While P/E…

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What does the future hold for eCommerce? 800 377 Scriberbase

What does the future hold for eCommerce?

After a decade of growth, eCommerce is facing headwinds. But, history gives us a good sense of what lies ahead. Looking back, the barriers that historically made entering the e-commerce space costly—such as expensive traditional marketing and…

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The future of loyalty is already here 600 347 Scriberbase

The future of loyalty is already here

The success of Amazon Prime has prompted established brands to rethink their loyalty programs. While free points-based programs were once ubiquitous, long redemption times, poor understanding of benefits, and anemic usage means the death of points programs.…

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Work from anywhere? 800 400 Scriberbase

Work from anywhere?

I’m not talking about “work from home”. A ‘work from anywhere’ model, and our definition of what that means, is taking new shape. Firstly, sorry “Prof G”, WeWork isn’t dead and has, in fact, reemerged from the…

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Should digital-first brands go omnichannel? 800 619 Scriberbase

Should digital-first brands go omnichannel?

Consider the back story of Warby Parker. A category disruptor in eyewear, WP was all about avoiding high-priced glasses by eliminating overhead incurred by physical stores. The lean start-up model made perfect sense. Then, in 2013,…

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The Gap’s foray into Subscription 800 534 Scriberbase

The Gap’s foray into Subscription

In the fall of 2018, roughly a year after Gap launched its initial subscription box, babyGap Outfit Box, the retailer stopped the program. The Gap’s attempted foray into subscription apparel provides some key lessons on…

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The 5 Core Principles of Subscription 1980 1283 Scriberbase

The 5 Core Principles of Subscription

1. Category Fit Finding the right subscription category fit is a good first step in assessing whether or not a business has subscription potential. Personal care, pet food, and vitamins, to name a few, are…

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A Different Era Ahead 1980 1283 Scriberbase

A Different Era Ahead

It’s a different era—thanks to digital commerce, and now COVID-19, consumers have more power than ever before. Consumer-centric direct-to-consumer brands are thriving. Legacy players who can’t pivot will falter.  This isn’t a prediction. We’ve seen…

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A Business Model on the Rise 1980 1283 Scriberbase

A Business Model on the Rise

Shopping, in the traditional sense, involves a buyer and a seller. A potential buyer learns about a product, usually from exposure to branded marketing, and if it’s compelling enough to buy, they do so via…

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Legacy Companies Pivot into Subscription 1980 1283 Scriberbase

Legacy Companies Pivot into Subscription

Some legacy companies have pivoted from one-time purchase models, to recurring subscriptions, especially in the realm of software-as-a-service, or SaaS. Microsoft is growing its subscription-based Office 365 offering for small businesses. LinkedIn, now owned by…

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The Netflix Pandemic 1980 1283 Scriberbase

The Netflix Pandemic

The pandemic, while an impediment to the majority of the economy, has lifted certain sectors to new heights. Streaming services, among them, have seen subscription numbers soar now that many of us are staying home…

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WeWork— Is Co-Working Done for Good? 1980 1283 Scriberbase

WeWork— Is Co-Working Done for Good?

It’s hard to talk about budding subscription players, without mentioning a nine-year-old company, that at one point in 2019, was on the verge of a $50 billion valuation. WeWork, the SoftBank-backed community workspace company started…

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