Subscription commerce models are emerging as a way for retailers and consumer products suppliers to ensure consistent purchases and brand loyalty from consumers. In fact, companies such as Freshpair, Jockey, Swanson Vitamins and Teavana, are implementing SaaS-based solutions from OrderGroove to offer subscription-based delivery services. By providing pre-scheduled product shipments to consumers, retailers can increase customer satisfaction, as well as overall purchase rates.
The subscription model works for both pure play e-Commerce retailers and multichannel merchants. Recently, OneCupConnection.com, a single-serve coffee provider, partnered with OrderGroove to launch Continuous Cup, a subscription service designed to deliver coffee to shoppers’ homesI. Internal research has shown that Continuous Cup members purchase products more than twice as often as non-subscribers, according to Larry Pearl, spokesperson for OneCupConnection.com.
“Our target customers love coffee just as much as they love convenience,” Pearl said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “While our target audience skews towards females in the middle-age segment, coffee really has become a mass-appeal, adult beverage. A subscription model allows us to save them time and money, creating long-term loyalty and customer satisfaction.”
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Since the launch of Continuous Cup in September 2012, OneCupConnection.com also has seen an increase in the following:
- Sales: Subscribers spend two times more than non-subscribers;
- Participation: Overall, 20% of active customers subscribe to the program — four times more than the projected number; and
- Retention: Nearly all (95%) subscribers are staying in the program month-to-month, a rate 15% higher than predicted.
Why Subscription?
Continuous Cup has been integrated organically into existing consumer accounts. Customers can choose to receive regular deliveries of any purchase, and customize their profiles at any time to skip orders, decrease time between shipments, and even opt out of the subscription model.
“Our objective is be our customers sole provider of top branded single cup coffee refills for their homes,” Pearl said. “We never want them to run out [of coffee]. If they do, we aren’t providing the level of convenience we should be. From a business perspective, it breaks their purchase cycle and we risk them purchasing from a brick and mortar retailer, especially as these refills have become more readily accessible at traditional retailers. It just made sense to launch a subscription program given that coffee refills are such a replenishment business.”
To raise awareness around Continuous Cup, OneCupConnection.com using email blasts, Facebook, Twitter and blog posts.
