The world of cosmetics and beauty can be a crowded and confusing one. With so many products and brands available, knowing how to separate the wheat from the chaff seems a daunting task. A recent trend that may help with this is the growing popularity of beauty boxes. For those of you who haven’t heard of these, the idea is a simple one: for a monthly subscription fee (usually €10), you receive a package containing samples of four or five products from various brands.
The pioneers of this service were Birchbox, an American company founded by two Harvard students. Combining their business expertise with a love of beauty products, they came up with the idea of signing people up to a monthly subscription of samples. Birchbox is currently only available in the US but are worth watching as they continue to innovate. Recent developments include offering boxes for men and the option to buy full sizes of the products available, earning reward points for doing so.
The popularity of this idea in the US meant it was only a matter of time before we saw the launch of the service in Europe. Glossybox have recently come to Spain and are also available in the UK, France, Germany, Brazil and South Korea. They offer big brand names and aim to tailor these products to the individual as much as possible. Also getting in on the act are home-grown company Glamourum, a Barcelona-based start-up offering a mix of local and international brands. Incentives to subscribe include discount deals and free treatments from companies such as Korres.
Only time will tell if this is an area of beauty retailing that will continue to grow, but in the meantime it’s a novel concept and great fun to receive the package. Who doesn’t like getting a nice surprise in the mail every now and then?
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