Subscription Commerce Market: Size and Breakdown

The subscription commerce market has seen rapid growth over the last few years. The perceived success of a few high-profile businesses using the subscription commerce model has spurred many people to launch their own services in creative new niches and in different countries around the world.

New companies are building successful businesses selling all manner of products by subscription. There is no single “subscription commerce market” as such. Rather there are many niches being targeted by these different services.

Subscription Commerce Market Size

Given that a vast range of products can potentially be delivered by subscription, there’s no obvious limit to the size of the subscription commerce industry.

The subscription model is a more natural fit for some products than others, but in many cases — rather than delivering an existing product by subscription — imaginative entrepreneurs are creating whole new products designed specifically with the subscription commerce model in mind…

Subscription Sample Boxes vs Own-Brand Subscription Boxes

Several companies offer samples by subscription, for example the monthly boxes of beauty samples provided by BirchBox and JolieBox

Other companies sell boxes containing products they’ve created themselves. Examples of these are the craft boxes of ToucanBox in the UK and Whimseybox in the US.

Most Popular Subscription Commerce Categories

Today there are subscription commerce companies with offerings in a very wide range of niches, however several categories are particularly popular:

  • Fashion
  • Beauty samples
  • Organic food
  • Eco products
  • Kids’ crafts & activities

Subscription Commerce Investments

A number of companies based around the subscription commerce model have now received venture capital investment.

These include:

  • JustFab ($109M)
  • BeachMint ($73.5M)
  • The Honest Company ($27M)
  • StylistPick ($19M)
  • H.Bloom ($16.9M)
  • BirchBox ($11.9M)
  • Trunk Club ($11M)
  • Kiwi Crate ($7M)
  • Citrus Lane ($6.6M)
  • FabKids ($2.6M)
  • Wittlebee ($2.5M)
  • BarkBox ($1.7M)
  • JolieBox ($1.43M)
  • Graze ($1.4M)
  • Quarterly ($1.25M)
  • Foodzie ($1.02M)
  • Dollar Shave Club ($1M)
  • Manpacks ($1M)
A few subscription commerce companies have been acquired, including:
  • Foodzie (artisan food subscriptions) acquired by Joyus (a video shopping network)

Further Reading