Ecommerce Empire Builders

How the Subscription Box Model Can Deliver HUGE Profits in 2023

by Peter PruDecember 26, 2022December 14, 2022Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

Empire builders, we live in the most amazing time ever! Literally anyone can start an online business from scratch without having to invest thousands and thousands of dollars. What’s even more amazing is that there are no limits to how far you can take your eCommerce business, especially with the right strategies—like the subscription box model.

If you’re looking for an absolute game changer to boost your business’s profits overnight, it’s all about one thing: subscriptions, subscriptions, subscriptions! I’ve been saying it for a long time, and I’m still going to be banging on this drum, especially with subscription box services becoming more popular than ever. Let’s explore how subscriptions can deliver phenomenal returns and help you build your empire.

How the Subscription Box Model Makes Dropshipping Much More Profitable

Imagine if you could keep your customers coming back again and again—and even be able to predict how much they’re going to spend. That’s the reality you can enjoy by using the subscription business model; it’s one of the most amazing options for running a dropshipping business.

Instead of making just one individual sale, each purchased subscription is equal to recurring payments. This string of recurring purchases can last for six to eight months or even longer! That’s unprecedented customer loyalty. It’s also a steady income you can use to reinvest in your business or pay yourself a salary. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

If you’re not familiar with subscription box services, here are the basics:

The customer subscribes to a recurring delivery of physical products, usually monthly.
The products are typically a curated collection within a specific niche, like cat toys, wellness supplements, snacks, books, beauty products… The sky’s the limit!
As a dropshipper, you don’t have to worry about the logistics at all. Simply choose the products, direct your supplier to prepare the boxes, and deliver them directly to the consumer.

Choosing the Right Products for a Successful Subscription Service

If you want to make the most of this fantastic business model, it’s essential to understand what customers are looking for in a subscription box. Most people will subscribe to these kinds of services for an average of around six to eight months, which will provide your business with an excellent chunk of change.

But, guess what? They’re not going to stick around for that long if they’re disappointed in the products. So what are they looking for? Customers sign up for a subscription box because they want:

Convenience: Instead of ordering multiple products from multiple places, they can get a great variety in one box.
Well-curated products: They want to be surprised and delighted by high-quality products that were handpicked just for them.
Value: Everybody loves a bargain, so this is definitely one of the main perks of signing up for a subscription service.
Unboxing experience: Getting a new subscription box in the mail is just like Christmas! Or at least, that’s how it should feel, with aesthetic packaging that’s actually fun to open.

The Right Niche Is the Solution

So, how do you make sure you can tick off all these boxes? It begins by choosing the right niche. Remember that dropshipping is all about building each of your businesses around a popular niche with eager consumers. You can’t please everybody, and it’s a mistake to even try.

Instead, choose a specialty that you’re actually interested in, research it as well as possible, and hone in on those winning products that will really sell, whether it’s fishing gear, scented candles, or gaming accessories. That’s how you provide value and build a loyal client base of subscribers coming back for more.

One of the best resources to help you get some ideas for your subscription service is the website MySubscriptionAddiction, which reviews every single box available out there. Do a search for the niche categories you’re interested in to get a concrete idea of the products already being offered to real consumers.

How to Partner With the Right Suppliers for Your Subscription Box

Dropshippers are always looking for a supplier with a wide range of products. But this factor becomes EXTRA important when you’re taking advantage of the subscription box business model. You need to be able to provide customers with at least six to eight months of unique, interesting products within their niche. That means your supplier should have a large product suite with plenty of options you can mix and match to formulate your boxes.

You guys know I already have a ton of information covering every single aspect of working with suppliers, including how to vet them to find the most trustworthy partner for your business. I love to show you, my students, exactly how to navigate these suppliers, especially which ones to work with and which ones not to.

Some of the most important factors are:

Size of Your Business

If you’re just starting out, you can find great suppliers on AliExpress or CJDropshipping. These are designed for smaller operations. Once you’re ready to level up your business, Alibaba will fulfill those 2,000+ monthly subscription orders.

Variety and Niche

If you’re in the pet niche, make sure the supplier has every possible kind of specialty pet product available! This is what allows you to keep your boxes fresh throughout the whole cycle of the customer’s subscription.

Vetting

Has the supplier been in business for at least two years (or preferably longer)? What is the vendor’s response rate within 24 hours? If it’s 95% or more, you can feel confident doing business with someone you can communicate with.

Is the supplier the actual manufacturer of these products or just a trading company that’s essentially a reseller? For the best prices, you generally want to work directly with a manufacturer. The supplier’s reviews and trade assurance or trust badge will also be key for helping you find the right partner.

Services Offered

Remember that customers for subscription boxes expect an enjoyable unboxing experience. Many suppliers will work with you to provide the customer with just that. You can use resources like Lumi to create your own beautiful custom packaging and a nice insert card with your branding, which the supplier can use to assemble your boxes.

Making Your Subscription Service Popular and Profitable Long-Term

Are you ready to launch a subscription box that customers love and that generates major income? Here is one final tip that’s absolutely CRUCIAL for implementing a subscription box model. In fact, it can make the difference between just average performance and getting really phenomenal returns with the subscription box model. And it’s this: find the sweet spot for pricing.

If you’re charging the customer $29.99 a month, you don’t want to spend more than $15 on the products plus the shipping costs. You want a nice, high profit margin of 50% or more to make the most of the subscription box model. At the same time, your customer is looking for value when they sign up for a subscription box service. If they can go to the store and buy all the products for the same price, they won’t stay loyal to your service.

That means you have to focus on finding the right product, the right supplier, and the right price to hit that sweet spot for both yourself and the customer. You can also offer them discounts for paying in advance for three to six months, which is a great way to lock in those profits.

Consult With the Pros

When it comes to making the most of dropshipping with the subscription box model, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to learn if you want to create a profitable online business and launch your empire. Dive right in by signing up for my free webinar. Also, check out the Ecommerce Empire Builders YouTube channel for more insights.

2021 Dropshipping Trends That Can Lead to Overnight Success

by Peter PruMarch 17, 2021March 12, 2021Systems & Processes2 Comments

The main reason why many people don’t succeed with their dropshipping business is that they don’t implement the most profitable practices. However, there are certain trends that can lead to overnight profitability when effectively used. Some ecommerce entrepreneurs go into this industry and start making a lot of money. Many others may wonder what they’re doing wrong as they experience disappointment from the start. We’ll go over some of the biggest 2021 dropshipping trends to help your business excel.

The Importance of Subscriptions

One of the key 2021 dropshipping trends is the use of subscriptions. So many dropshippers fail simply because they’re not incorporating subscriptions into their business model. The advantage of a subscription is that it provides consistent, predictable revenue that can compensate for other less reliable sales. If you can get dozens or even hundreds of people subscribing to your business every month, that’s free revenue that you can get right from the start.

The subscription box industry is only going to continue growing: A McKinsey study found that the industry went from $57 million in 2011 to over $2.6 billion in 2016, a tremendous growth within a mere 5 years. Since then, the market has expanded to over $10 billion as of 2019.

One of the clearest 2020 and 2021 dropshipping trends is that subscription boxes are extremely lucrative. The problem that a lot of people have is deciding what to include in their subscriptions. This keeps them from implementing them. The fact is that all you need for a successful subscription is a solid value offer.

In short, as long as the value of the box outweighs what your customers actually pay for it, your subscription will likely succeed.

Start by Googling Your Niche

Many of the top 2021 dropshipping trends are rooted in good research. You can begin building your subscription by searching for similar boxes in your niche. All you need to do is go to Google and type “subscription boxes,” followed by whatever topic you want to cover. For instance, you could search for “subscription boxes survival” to find boxes in the survival niche. These boxes would include various types of survival gear. If there aren’t many options to choose from, you may need to target another niche. But the more results you see for your search, the more lucrative the opportunity will be.

Keep a lookout for PPC ads in the top results for a given niche. This indicates that businesses are making enough money in that niche to spend on high-ranking search ads instead of relying on organic search results.

Once you’ve found other subscriptions in your industry, the next step is to find out what other sellers are doing to succeed with these boxes. Visit their websites and take a look at their products and overarching themes, along with the packaging. You’ll want to find out what kind of value these businesses are bringing to customers, which you can then adapt for your business. You can gain key insight into 2021 dropshipping trends from your competitors.

Highlight the Value Included in Your Physical Subscription and Make That the Focus

When selling any kind of physical subscription box, it’s important to detail the value included with each box. Also, include how much the customer is saving with the subscription.

Ultimately, value supersedes perfection with every subscription box. While many may perceive perfection as worth striving for with every shipment — by optimizing presentation to complement the value of the products — this can actually hinder rather than help your business. Unfortunately, many businesses fail because they spend too much time on making their subscription boxes perfect when they should actually be selling. People care about what’s included in the box, not the box itself, so don’t waste too much time on pretty packaging and other aspects of presentation when contents matter most. Once you’ve gotten to the point where you have over 100 subscribers, you can then strive for the perfect box now that your subscription is off the ground.

Locate Products and Suppliers on AliExpress

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing how to choose a supplier

With the ideal subscription box chosen, use AliExpress to find specific products and suppliers. Try to find a solitary supplier that can provide you with all of the products you need within your niche. This can help you save some time finding individual products and compiling them in your subscription. A single supplier can also serve as a reliable source.

While on AliExpress, browse different suppliers’ stores and find out what they specifically offer. You’re looking for a supplier that can offer a 50% profit margin. This means that if subscribers are paying around $15 per month, the subscription box should include items that cost you around $7.50 to buy and ship. If needed, you can throw in some digital products to help boost profit margins. For each subscription box, look for around three to four products that you can ship collectively at an affordable price. This can further ensure profitability.

Find Suppliers on Alibaba if You’re More Established

Has your business had a chance to grow, with a bigger budget to work with and a more established brand? Alibaba can give you some more ideas for subscription boxes and enable you to find the perfect supplier. You can then investigate any suppliers you come across until you locate one worth reaching out to. From there, you can send a message to request product catalogs or brochures, which should also indicate pricing.

Once you’ve chosen a supplier, the next step is to develop a calendar. While you can use a six-month calendar, we recommend developing a one-year calendar. Why? Because most customers won’t spend more than a year on a subscription. Using this calendar, you can decide on which products to place into each shipment for a year. Once the year ends, the calendar could restart. Then you can send some of the same products to customers as the start of the previous year, seeing as most of those customers will be newer at that point.

Package Subscription Boxes Yourself at the Start

Dropshipper contacting suppliers to streamline his business

Having selected the right products and suppliers for your subscription, you can begin constructing your boxes and selling them. Until you reach 100 subscribers, we recommend avoiding using fulfillment centers to put your boxes together. Instead, you’ll be able to save a lot of money by building your own subscription boxes. It may take a lot of time and feel like a waste of it, but you’ll be saving a lot of money, and you can always get friends and family to help. You can even turn your boxing sessions into an event, ordering some food and drinks to make it feel less like a hassle for everyone involved.

With over 500 subscribers, a fulfillment center will likely be worth the price. Fulfillment centers may also help organize shipments with suppliers and simplify the entire process.

If you can harness the power of subscriptions from the start of your dropshipping venture, you’ll be able to succeed throughout 2021 and the coming years. If you can locate the ideal niche, products, and suppliers, you’ll be able to develop a winning subscription plan that customers love. In turn, you’ll see consistent, regular income. Do you want to learn more about how to thrive in ecommerce? Then reserve your seat at our free ecommerce masterclass, where we’ll show you how to build a winning dropshipping business in no time. You can also follow these 2021 dropshipping trends on my YouTube channel as they change over the upcoming year.

Tagged : creating subscription boxes / dropshipping business growth / how to find suppliers / subscription boxes / suppliers

Top 2021 Dropshipping Trends to Follow for Overnight Success

by Peter PruFebruary 10, 2021February 3, 2021Product Research / Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

A lot of dropshippers start a business and fail because, among other things, they’re not incorporating the latest trends into their business. If you want to ensure your dropshipping business has the chance to succeed, incorporate these 2021 dropshipping trends. By following the right trends and using them to inform your strategies, you can make your store profitable overnight.

Here we’ll review some of the biggest 2021 dropshipping trends so far, which you can use to build a successful business.

Adding Subscriptions

The main reason why so many dropshipping businesses fail is that they neglect to add subscriptions. Subscriptions can make it easy for businesses to maximize customer lifetime value (CLV) and encourage repeat sales while maximizing predictability. That’s why they’re one of the most important 2021 dropshipping trends. If you want to generate a steady and predictable revenue stream on a yearly, monthly, or even weekly basis, subscriptions can be the key. All you need to do to create a successful subscription is to have a good value offer. If the value of what you give to customers outweighs the cost, people will keep coming to you for those products.

According to marketing firm McKinsey, revenue from the subscription box industry increased dramatically from $57 million in 2011 to over $2.6 billion by 2016. Over the next five years, those figures have increased even more into 2021. The love for subscription boxes is far from fading.

Look for Other Subscriptions in Your Niche to Get Ideas

You can start developing your own subscription by finding out what subscription boxes exist in your niche. Simply Google “[your niche] subscription boxes” and see what comes up for that search. If the options are minimal, this may not be the best niche. But if you perform a search and see plenty of results, this means there’s money in that niche. This is especially true if you see ads show up as the first results.

Why is this a clue? Because no business will pay for PPC ads in top results if they’re not making a profit.

The next step is to see what other successful businesses are doing to sell those subscription boxes. Take a look at their websites and find out what products they include, along with themes for each box and packaging. Determine what value they’re bringing to their customers, which can translate to your own subscription.

Always Highlight the Value You Offer With Physical Subscription Boxes

Keep in mind that there is one additional strategy you need to implement when selling physical boxes. Whenever you sell a physical subscription box, you should always detail the value that’s included with each box. Also, include how much they’re saving with a subscription. However, for digital products, you generally don’t need to be as competitive with your pricing.

Focus on Value Over Perfection

At the end of the day, when starting out with your subscription, try to avoid making it as perfect as possible. Many businesses strive for perfection because it makes them feel good to put together the most ideal presentation, but this can hurt your business rather than help it. One of the reasons why so many businesses fail when starting out is because they focus on creating the “perfect” subscription and making things complex instead of selling their products. Instead of directing all your attention to putting together the perfect subscription, focus on the value you bring and simply providing customers with a mix of high-quality products. As your business begins to grow and you reach your first 100 subscribers, then you can work on perfecting subscriptions.

Using AliExpress to Find Subscription Products and Suppliers

Screenshot of Peter Pru checking an AliExpress supplier's store

Once you have a subscription box in mind and you know how to approach it, you can begin looking for products and a supplier on AliExpress. On AliExpress, you’ll want to look for a single supplier that provides a ton of products in your niche. You don’t have to look for individual products and put them together in a subscription. Just find that one supplier, and you’re good to go.

Check out different suppliers’ stores while browsing AliExpress and see what kinds of products they offer. What you need to find is something that you can offer with a 50% profit margin. For example, if your subscribers are paying $20 per month, make sure your box includes products that you can ship to customers for around $10. If you need to, we recommend adding some digital products to those subscriptions when possible to improve your margins.

You should be able to find three to four products that you can ship together at an affordable price that enables you to earn a profit that makes it worthwhile.

For More Established Brands: Finding Suppliers Through Alibaba

When your business has grown and you have a sufficient budget along with a developed brand, head over to Alibaba to get some ideas for a subscription box and to locate a supplier. Find the right supplier, and take some time to review them. Then you can send a message requesting brochures or catalogs of their products and pricing.

With a supplier backing your subscription, you need to put together a calendar. (Organization is also one of the top 2021 dropshipping trends.) You can create a six-month calendar. But we suggest a one-year calendar considering most customers won’t likely stay with any subscription for more than a year. Based on that calendar, you can determine which products to include with each shipment so that you have a specific plan in place. After that calendar period, you can then cycle through your past subscription boxes. You’ll likely be sending them to newer customers as old ones leave.

2021 Dropshipping Trends: DIY Subscription Boxes vs. Fulfillment Centers

After you’ve found and connected with the right supplier, you can begin putting your subscription boxes together and pricing them. If you have under 100 subscribers, you can save some money by putting your subscription boxes together on your own. You can make it a party. Invite some friends or family to join you. Order delivery and turn it into a fun event that makes it feel more worth your time. Ultimately, you can save a lot of money this way when starting out.

Once you’ve reached over 500 subscribers, you can then transfer packaging to a fulfillment warehouse. That service will be able to work out the logistics with suppliers and further simplify things for you.

With a subscription behind your dropshipping business, you can achieve the level of success you want in 2021. Finding the right products and suppliers can help you put together a subscription plan that your customers will love. This will provide predictable, consistent income. Do you want to find out more about how you can succeed as a dropshipper with cutting-edge 2021 dropshipping trends? We’ll teach you everything you need to know when you reserve your free seat at our ecommerce masterclass.

Tagged : creating subscription boxes / dropshipping / dropshipping business growth / how to find suppliers / subscription boxes