The subscription box market size is expected to reach $105.4 billion by 2032, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 14%. For all e-Commerce businesses, this is the time to start offering subscription services to your customers for better growth.
In this blog, we’ve compiled 25 examples of long-standing subscription box brands to learn from their expertise and strategies.
25 Best build-a-box subscription examples
Here are 25 subscription box examples from big brands to take inspiration from.
1. TokyoTreat
Tokyo Treat offers a taste of Japanese culture in different varieties from rare KitKat flavors, drinks, cookies, and savory chips to delightful candies. They offer 4 subscription plans: monthly, tri-monthly, semi-annually, and annually.
2. Dollar Save Money
Dollar Save Money provides men with grooming products in kits such as razors, grip handles, shave butter and razor covers. It’s all about convenience – you can even customize future shipments to fit your needs perfectly. It also provides you with free shipping and discounts at checkout.
3. TruBrain
TruBrain offers brain food to overcome mental blocks, conquer procrastination, and improve verbal fluency. It offers a 10-drink trial box to discover the combination that works best for you. It also lets you customize your box with extra products and discounts.
4. BirchBox
BirchBox gives you access to skincare and beauty products from the best brands. It first asks some questions to know your skin, hair, and style, then customize your box with samples or full-size items tailored just for you. It provides a variety of customization options each month to choose from.
Recommended read: BirchBox Subscription Box Strategy Breakdown and Takeaways
5. Greenprint
Greenprint provides environmentally friendly printing services, using vegetable inks rather than petroleum ink. It provides customization for subscription boxes and an added discount in the checkout.
6. Blue Apron
Blue Apron delivers pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to subscribers, allowing them to cook meals at home without the hassle of grocery shopping. You can choose from 2, 3, 4, or 5 recipes in each weekly delivery, perfectly portioned for either two or four people in their Signature Plans.
7. HelloFresh
Similar to Blue Apron, HelloFresh provides subscribers with meal kits containing fresh ingredients and chef-designed recipes for easy cooking at home. It provides easily customizable menus, flexible deliveries, and the option to skip/cancel for their subscription kits.
8. Graze
Graze offers healthy snack subscription boxes with a variety of individually portioned snacks, ranging from nuts and dried fruits to savory snacks and sweets. Graze comes up with an exciting theme every month and in each box, you get at least 8 limited-edition snacks and an exclusive magazine that has bonus foodie content.
9. Book of the Month
Book of the Month sends subscribers a curated selection of newly released books each month, allowing them to choose which book they’d like to receive. With this subscription, you can choose or skip a book every month. Once you select your monthly selection, you can ship up to two additional add-ons as a New Member and up to four additional add-ons as a Friend or BFF.
10. KiwiCo
KiwiCo offers subscription boxes with hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) projects for kids of various age groups, encouraging learning through play. They ask for your child’s birth month and year at the time of the sign-up process to ensure they send relevant craft kits for the child’s age.
11. BarkBox
BarkBox delivers monthly boxes of toys, treats, and chews for dogs, tailored to the dog’s size and preferences. They create subscription boxes with a new theme for each month and the box includes 2 toys and 2 treats. Of course, their boxes offer customization options to the buyers and offer 6- or 12-month subscriptions.
Recommended read: Complete Guide on Bundle Subscriptions for Shopify Stores (2024)
12. FabFitFun
FabFitFun provides seasonal subscription boxes containing a mix of beauty, wellness, fashion, and lifestyle products, allowing subscribers to discover new brands and products. Every subscriber can choose the items they want in their box, and get up to 70% off, early access, and exclusive drops from the most in-demand brands
13. Bespoke Post
Bespoke Post offers themed subscription boxes for men, featuring a curated selection of lifestyle products such as accessories, gadgets, grooming essentials, and home goods. It analyzes your quiz answers to suggest relevant boxes and make new recommendations each month. It also allows you to swap your box for another or skip the month entirely.
14. Glossybox
Glossybox provides beauty subscription boxes filled with a selection of deluxe-sized beauty products from high-end skincare, makeup, and haircare brands. In their monthly subscription box they include five hand-picked beauty products. Glossybox offers four different types subscriptions: a monthly package, a tri-monthly package, a semi-annual package and an annual package.
15. Escape the Crate
Escape the Crate delivers subscription boxes that contain escape room games designed to be played at home. Each box includes puzzles, clues, and narrative elements to create an immersive gaming experience. They allow you to either pay for one box at a time with the first box shipping in 2-4 days, or pre-pay for 2, 3, or 6 boxes.
16. Vinyl Me, Please
Vinyl Me, Please is a subscription service for vinyl record enthusiasts, offering curated selections of records spanning various genres along with exclusive pressings, artwork, and editorial content. It allows recipients to choose from 5 Tracks: Essentials, Classics, Hip-Hop, Rock or Country, and offers 3,6 and 12 months membership.
17. MistoBox
MistoBox delivers subscription boxes featuring freshly roasted specialty coffee beans from different roasters worldwide. It has grouped coffee into two tiers based on retail price – Deluxe & Exclusive and enables subscribers to customize their boxes based on their coffee preferences and brewing methods.
18. JustFab
JustFab is a leading shoe fashion brand that offers membership to its customers. These members get exclusive access to shop multiple big brands including JustFab, ShoeDazzle, FabKids, and more, all in one place. For $49.95, you get exclusive VIP benefits, including a $80 promotional credit for products.
19. Fabletics
Fabletis is a fitness apparel company that offers clothing and shapewear for women & men. Its membership provides benefits including promotional VIP Credit and access to exclusive products. Their membership is flexible as they provide the option to skip on the 1st & 5th of each month.
20. Rent the Runway
Rent the Runway allows you to rent the best clothes online from 750+ designers. It allows you to pick a plan that suits your needs, enjoy exclusive perks, and pause or cancel whenever you like. All plans allow you to keep five items at home at once.
21. Meowbox
Meowbox offers a subscription box just for cats, including fun toys and yummy treats. They design adorable monthly themes with unique toy ideas and feature exclusive treats for your cats. It also offers a “No Food” option for an extra toy; plus, the box itself serves as a bonus toy. Meowbox offers a subscription plan for one, three, or six months.
22. Craft Beer Club
Craft Beer Club offers top-notch beers right at your doorsteps. In their subscription plan, they pick the best beer for you. Other than the included four different styles of beer from two different craft breweries every month, you can select a size 12 or 24 beers for the box, delivered once a month.
23. Variety Fun
Variety Fun offers subscription boxes for delicious & healthy snacks. It offers subscriptions for two categories: home & office. For subscriptions, members can opt to receive regular/healthy snacks once/twice a month. There are two different themes for snack boxes, Fun Box (including Cheetos, Doritos, Oreos, and Cheez-it), and Fit Box (including SkinnyPop, Kind, Cliff, Terra Chips & more).
24. Bite
Bite offers toothpaste tablets sent in refillable glass containers that look great. With subscriptions, they deliver four months’ worth in a refill jar. You get an email reminder before each shipment, letting you cancel, postpone, or change flavors as needed.
25. Once upon a Farm
Once Upon a Farm is a company that offers organic snacks and meals for children, delivered conveniently through subscriptions. They prioritize high-quality ingredients and allow customization for parents’ needs. They deliver your subscriptions every one, two, three, four, or five weeks, based on your chosen frequency.
Recommended read: How to Get Your First 1000 Subscription Customers (Checklist)
Conclusion
Appstle is one of the trusted Shopify subscription apps for Increasing subscribers on eCommerce sites by providing powerful and customizable subscription features.
With an easy-to-use admin dashboard, Appstle provides management features, automation, subscription widgets, and growth-focused subscription analytics to help grow your business
Appstle also offers subscription widgets for the quick creation of upsells, bundles, build-a-box features, and more. With Appstle’s APIs, businesses can create custom experiences and use subscription product checkout links to direct customers straight to checkout.
Want to learn more about Appstle?
Reach out to our experts or explore our Shopify apps today.
