Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2018 - 11

communities, sub-box companies connect
individuals within those communities.
Adventure-box brand Nomadik got its start
on Cratejoy, where owner Patrick Hines saw
the number of subscribers grow 12 times over
a six-month period. Nomadik boxes start at
$26 a month (valued up to $50) and contain
three to five outdoor adventure items, from
hammocks to survival tools-an estimated
$50 value, something sub-box customers are
seeking. Explains Garg: "You may buy three
items in the market for $100, but get those
same three things for a total of $30 in a box,
and it's delivered right to your door without
the fuss of decision making."
Sub boxes will also increasingly shape product design and curate customer needs as they
double as a data-driven and data-gathering
vehicle. Dinan of Cairn says up to 50 percent of
customers return their monthly surveys providing valuable feedback on product design.
So who is the average subscriber? She is a
college-educated late Millennial/Gen X liberal woman with young children. On social
media sites, she gathers most of her ideas for
sub boxes from Pinterest (three times more
than Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn). She
often reads mysubscriptionadddiction.com

SO WHO IS THE AVERAGE SUBSCRIBER? SHE IS A
COLLEGE-EDUCATED LATE MILLENNIAL/GEN X LIBERAL
WOMAN WITH YOUNG CHILDREN.

OUTDOORTHEMED BOXES

You Get: A range of
hand-picked technical tactical and survival gear.
Trust the Experts:
Each box corresponds to a "mission," from an "active
shooter response
kit" to "fix anything."
battlebox.com

Take note of these
subscriptions that
have developed
cult followings.
The Feed
Cost: $19-$222
per month.
You Get: Pre-,
during-, and postworkout food and
fuel, with the ability
to build customized
boxes or buy themed
offerings like a Tour
de France box.
Trust the Experts:
A team of former pro
athletes based in

Boulder, Colorado.
thefeed.com
Postfly
Cost: $20 per
month.
You Get: Premium
fly-fishing gear, from
patterns to apparel.
Trust the Experts:
Fly-fishing guides
who customize your
box according to
species, location,
and time of year.
subscibe.postflybox.com
Battlebox
Cost: $25-$150 per
month.

Photograph by Andrew Kornylak

(responsible for one third of affiliate traffic)
for the latest in reviews and deals. On average, she holds two subscriptions and they are
more likely "curation" types (personalized experience) over "replenishment" (automated
purchase of commodity items like razors) or
"access" (obtain member-only perks) types.
But what do you do when you have collected more gear than you could possibly need?
With the environment being the focus among
outdoor industry sub-box companies, it only
makes sense that they set an environmentally friendly example for the entire sub-box
industry. Cairn's newly launched Gear Up,
Give Back program provides the opportunity
for subscribers to find a home for their retired
gear. Every monthly Cairn box will include a
bag customers can fill and return for free. The
Gear Fix will then make necessary repairs and
sell the items in its store. All proceeds will be
matched by Gear Fix and Cairn and donated
to the Conservation Alliance. O.R.

Wild Woman
Cost: $38 per
month .
You Get: Curated
gear meant to fuel
and motivate adventurous females.
Trust the Experts:
The boxes include

everything from natural body products
to the book Women
Who Run with
Wolves. cratejoy.
com/subscriptionbox/wild-woman
Nomadik
Cost: $30 per
month.
You Get: Gear
linked to a theme with
the intent of getting
subscribers out to explore each month.
Trust the Experts:
An acive team of
adventurers tests
the gear in each box.
thenomadik.com

BOX BASICS

Want to curate a
surprise box experience for your
shop. The experts
at Cratejoy
(cratejoy.com)
give the following guidelines on
what works best.
1. Set sensible margins if you don't want
to end up working
for free. Consider
using Cratejoy's
pricing guide (bit.
ly/2sC9OEC) before
moving forward with
a subscription box.
2. Engage your community in conversation to help spread
your message. Make
it easy for your customers to spread
your word.
3. Focus on retention
more than gathering new subscribers.

The lifetime value of a
customer becomes
huge if they are paying every month.
Focus on developing
the relationship.
4. Choose a vertical
category in which
people trust you as
an expert. Focus on
niche markets.
5. Don't try to scale
too fast. In the first two
to three months there
are going to be products customers aren't
going to like. Start
with launching a small
number of boxes, and
then get customer
feedback. The first
three boxes should be
experimental.
6. Set clear expectations for subscribers, particularly
when it comes to the
shipping schedule.
-A.J.M.

Summer 2018 / OUTDOOR RETAILER 11
http://www.cratejoy.com http://www.mysubscriptionaddiction.com/ http://www.thefeed.com http://www.battlebox.com http://www.box.com http://www.thenomadik.com
Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2018

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