Scentbird, the direct-to-consumer subscription-based fragrance company, is diving further into private-label products to diversify its business.
Almost a year after launching private-label products like lip balms and hand creams, the brand is now offering limited capsule collections, starting with one called Lush Gold. This consists of three products — a body wash, a body oil and a lip oil — and is designed to be a limited-time offer. Scentbird plans to play this strategy forward by launching two or three bath and body capsule collections per year to create merchandise assortment and retain and acquire new customers.
Thus far, the company, which launched in 2014, has relied largely on its fragrance strategy to grow its customer base of over 260,000: Scentbird offers sample access to over 500 perfumes, including Prada Candy, Clinique Happy and Elizabeth and James’ Nirvana Black. In early August, the company also began piloting a makeup subscription service with brands like Kat Von D and Tarte.
As the direct-to-consumer fragrance space becomes even more crowded with brands, like Pinrose, Phlur and Skylar Body, not to mention subscription services offering perfume samples like Birchbox and Sephora Play, this is latest way Scentbird can distinguish itself from other players.
The new capsule collection is meant to be a “luxury” offering as it is infused with 24-karat gold flakes and fragrant notes of golden amber and vanilla. Still, the Lush Gold products remain accessibly priced: The body wash, body oil and lip oil as a bundle are $14.95 for subscribers and are sold individually for between $23 and $30. The company’s subscription levels start at $14.95 and go up to $35 per month.
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“Whatever a subscription is at its start, consumers need to continuously be inspired and delighted,” said Rachel ten Brink, co-founder and CMO of Scentbird.
The capsule collections are meant to stir up excitement from current subscribers, both from a category point of view and that they are only offered for a limited time. And by creating its own private-label products, Scentbird is increasing revenue options for the company. Right now, Scentbird only serves as a wholesale partner for fragrance and makeup brands.
“We are keeping the margins,” Ten Brink said. “[However,] it’s not about improving them, but about retention and expanding the lifetime value of the customer journey.” Ten Brink declined to say how many Lush Gold capsule collection products would be available at launch but did point out that the startup has the ability to be reactive and reevaluate the output.
