From meal kits to wardrobe upgrades, new entrants in the increasingly crowded subscription commerce space keep emerging. Just this week, auto-replenishment company Harry's launched a women's line of hair removal products called Flamingo.
According to a McKinsey study released in February, subscription commerce retailers grew sales from $57.0 million in 2011 to over $2.6 billion in 2016. Established companies, including big-box stores, supermarkets and consumer packaged goods (CPG) conglomerates, have gotten on board for a piece of the action. To wit, in 2016, Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion, and last year Albertsons acquired meal-kit brand Plated for over $200 million.
But how do consumers feel about them?
At the beginning of the year, Salsify asked US digital shoppers where they planned to do more shopping in 2018. Subscription services were cited by only 8%, though still ahead of using social media and voice-activated assistants and smart speakers.