Subscription box services have exploded in popularity over the last few years. Now everything from digital entertainment to self care and household cleaning items to cooking ingredients can be delivered on a rolling basis, right to customers' doors.
And consumers are certainly responding to this business model. According to a McKinsey & Company report, 15 percent of online shoppers have already signed up for at least one subscription, and many currently receive multiple monthly boxes.
If your subscription service is one of the many that has experienced significant growth recently, there are a few steps you should consider next to maintain this business expansion and support strong relationships with clients:
Learn about your products and supply chain
As Yocale contributor Victoria Green pointed out, every company's first priority should be to have a thought-out strategy in place. No organization can run without guiding principles and standards, and your products and supply chain will play a large role here. It's imperative to learn as much as you can about the items you're providing and the ways in which these are sourced and distributed.
Once business leaders have an understanding of their different product lines, vendors and supply channels, it's time to start thinking about scale. With a smaller customer pool, the scale of the supply chain isn't as big of an issue. But as your client list grows, you must ensure that you have the inventory and supply chain relationships to support this growth.
"Foster and encourage feedback from your client pool."
Listen to and apply insights from customer feedback
Smaller organizations that recently launched tend to have closer ties with their customers, a benefit of starting small. As the business grows, it's imperative not to overlook these connections, but instead foster and encourage feedback from your client pool.
Making sure your customers feel heard is important, but it's even more critical to leverage insights from these conversations for the good of the business. If multiple customers experience the same issue, stakeholders should listen to this feedback and work to correct the issue as quickly as possible.
Supporting this type of back-and-forth and open discussions with customers can really set a brand apart, providing a leg up on the competition. In the same vein, Entrepreneur contributor Georg Richter also recommends observing and learning from others in the subscription box marketplace.
"Subscriptions led by a great concept fail all too frequently because the entrepreneurs leading them start with 'great' ideas but no plans beyond that," Richter wrote. "Stay apprised of the tools and technologies your competitors are using."
Ensure seamless order management and fulfillment
Finally, one of the most crucial keys to a growing business is enabling on-time and hassle-free order fulfillment, shipping and delivery for customers. As your brand grows, you'll need to manage and maintain more customer information, transactions, inventory details and order disbursement data. In order to stay on top of all this information in an organized and seamless manner, you need a full-featured solution that supports all of these moving parts, and then some.
An advanced order management solution like FlexOMS can support your business, from startup, through quick expansion and the entire business lifecycle. To find out more, connect with one of our expert OMS specialists today.
