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Subscription boxes: the name itself shouts packaging

An emerging form of retailing relies heavily on packaging.

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Any given consumer has interests, a truth that makes subscription boxes a viable retailing concept. For a monthly subscription fee, the subscriber is shipped a box loaded with products tailored to an expressed interest. Take, for example, a dog-lover. That person can go on-line and subscribe to an associated service.

Prior to the arrival of the box, its exact contents are not known by the consumer; however, it's not altogether a matter of blind trust. That's because the subscription box industry is under the constant reporting from an army of bloggers posting reviews.

But a subscription service helps its own cause most by soliciting relevant information from the consumer at the time of enrollment. From there, success hinges on the effectiveness of the service's curation--in short, the evaluation and selection of what to offer as contents of the subscription boxes. That's the essence of marketing: matching consumer wants with product/service characteristics, the objective being to establish a brand. Packaging is a proven marketing tool and brand-builder, and that's true for subscription boxes, too.

The boxes

Subscription boxes are corrugated constructions but in contrast to, say, a RSC (regular slotted container), a subscription box typically is of the mailer style. And whereas all shipping boxes must be sufficiently sturdy, this is especially important for subscription boxes because theirs is the parcel post environment, with all its drops, impacts, vibrations, and compressions.

To that brawn must be added the right amount of beauty. For subscription boxes, graphic design is just as important as structural design, not altogether surprising, given that it's the box that must instantly convey the personality and aura of the subscription service. Moreover, the graphic design should be thematic, representing the specific subscriber interest that the contents address. Depending on that interest, the graphics might bespeak femininity, masculinity, frivolity, indulgence, austerity, or any other from an endless variety of themes.

And designers are not limited to "thinking outside the box"-literally--because some subscription boxes also sport graphics on the inside. Such visual candy comes with added printing costs, and it's up to the subscription service to decide if it's cost-effective. Conceivably, a subscription service catering to consumers of relatively pricey items might go the outside-inside route; then, too, so might a service catering to children's items, for the visual stimulation it provides to the young recipients, in addition to later doubling as a storage container for a child's whimsical keepsakes. The point being made is that cost-effectiveness is case-specific.

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