15. Subscription boxes as a company perk
Feeling appreciated by my company as I unbox esoteric candy from Japan
Problem
Making your employees feel appreciated is difficult, small gestures can go a long way. Increasingly work is done remotely with distributed teams.
Remote work especially can be stressful with many people losing their balance between work and their own lives.
An unrelated additional problem this tackles: customer acquisition is one of the biggest challenges for subscription boxes.
Solution
Subscription boxes as a company perk.
Some of the best perks or gifts from a company are attributable to an event or activity. Treating an employee who went above and beyond to a nice dinner makes them feel more appreciated than a tiny bonus of the equivalent $ added to their next paycheck.
Subscription boxes are hot right now, there’s a subscription box for any hobby or interest out there. It’s like receiving a gift every month because its contents are often a surprise. If my company allows me to choose a subscription box at their expense, every month I get a little reminder they appreciate me, as well as a trigger to enjoy whatever is in the box (which is often pet or hobby-related).
For business owners:
One bill at the end of the month.
No need to deal with N subscription box services so everybody can get a box that matches their interests.
Employees are happier, and hopefully also less stressed and likely to burn out as subscription box contents should help a tiny bit.
For subscription box services:
An additional customer acquisition channel.
Save some money on shipping if it’s a non-remote company: the boxes can be delivered to the office.
Business Model
Subscription box services don’t pay to be on your platform (it will only mean additional subscribers!) - they should be willing to offer boxes at a slightly lower price than retail.
Businesses set a maximum box price and their employees pick the box they like best (they don’t see the dollar cost). Every month the cost of all the currently active boxes are added up, a healthy margin is added, and the business receives a single bill.
Inspiration
There are many platforms out there that offer “employee discounts” as a perk, but they are really just targeted ads for which the company gets a kickback if you end up purchasing that item/subscription. To me it felt more like receiving target spam which is only out there to make me consume more stuff. I don’t feel particularly appreciated at all from a 10% discount on my car insurance - although it’s still nice to have the option.