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Listen to or watch the original content Michaël Maarek is the founder of Grenadia, a start-up specialising in comparing home-delivery box offerings…
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Michaël Maarek is the founder of Grenadia, a start-up specialising in comparing home-delivery box offerings through a marketplace. The subscription box market has emerged relatively recently, over roughly the past ten years, with a diverse range of boxes, from beauty boxes to pet boxes. The French market currently has 320 boxes, reaching a wide range of consumers.
According to Michaël, demand is mainly focused on beauty boxes, products for children, culinary products and wine. Subscription offerings and monthly boxes have been booming since 2021. The challenge lies in retaining customers, who cancel their subscriptions after several months once they have discovered the new products. Acquiring new customers is difficult, and maintaining a lasting customer base depends on factors such as attractive pricing, as well as the services accompanying the products sent, including the information provided, and also the sense of belonging to a group of consumers who share a unique experience and can interact with one another.
The box market leaves room for innovation and the launch of original new concepts, but the market for general-purpose products is already saturated. Market entry is therefore limited to new offerings. Michaël has observed structural changes with the pandemic, with Grenadia recording +40% traffic to its sites in 2020 compared with 2019, as e-commerce benefited greatly from the crisis.
Some companies are starting to include their own products in boxes, designing them themselves to raise awareness of their brand. Boxes appeal to entrepreneurs because they represent an opportunity to share their passion and are easy to launch, requiring no costly product design. They represent a small investment, and also provide recurring revenue, which is essential to the company’s medium-term outlook. Seasonality is also extremely important because boxes make excellent potential gifts.