Abstract:

This ongoing research aims to explore the consumer behavior and psychology behind the subscription box business models and the motivations of buying and sharing this experience in social media. This study tries to explore meanings of unboxing videos, not just merely observe. This exploratory research focuses on the subscription box business model which has become extremely popular among shoppers and are widely used by many companies. There are not enough overall statistics about subscription box industry but between 2013-2016, subscriptions have increased 3000% (Chang, 2016). The most popular subscription box companies are Birchbox, Ipsy, Mac & Mia, FabFitFun, The Year of Wellness, GlossyBox, BeautyArmy, Le Tote Box, Box of Style and Dollar Shave Club (Boyd, 2016). Content is generally created based on customer’s preferences. There are so different subscription box models in a wide range of categories (women, men, beauty, food, moms, babies, kids, drinks, fitness, eco, crafts, pets, artisan etc.). Within the subscription box industry, there are three main market approaches: replenishment (e.g. Dollar Shave Club), sampling (e.g. Birchbox and Glossybox) and curation (Graze, Carnivore Club). However, the industry has become so saturated that new entries are starting monthly subscription boxes for more specific categories like niche boxes and luxury boxes (Ray, 2015).