The subscription eCommerce industry has birthed a fast-growing, new way of shopping online. From apparel and accessories and beauty and makeup to food, fitness and health, and books – multiple industries have dabbled into the subscription business model, thrived and how.

According to a McKinsey study, the sales of subscription commerce retailers touched over $2.6 billion in 2016 from $57.0 million in 2011, with 15 percent of online shoppers signing up for one or more subscriptions to receive products mostly every month.

The subscription eCommerce market has indeed witnessed a commendable growth by more than 100% a year over the last five years. And with 83% of digital shoppers in the US choosing retail websites to shop from, the craze for subscription services isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

After all – it offers consumers a cost-effective, personalized and most importantly, a convenient way to buy what they want.

But what’s surprising is that photo printing and ordering service providers are a bit hesitant to embrace the subscription business model. Thirty-three percent of US Internet users have expressed concern if they lose access to the traditional way of availing those services. And that’s a figure that’s hard to ignore.

So, if you are looking to implement subscriptions for your printing company but are not sure, here is a crash course to help you get started:

1) Choose the correct subscription business model

Generally speaking, there are three broad types of subscriptions: replenishment, curation, and access. While the first option is apt for commodity items, the other two seek to surprise and delight consumers by offering them highly personalized experiences.

Since the core of your printing services relies on personalization, you can create a model wherein your customers can pay a monthly fee to obtain lower prices or VIP member-only perks. box, CrateJoy’s packaging design partner lets the customers customize and order boxes for really small quantities, while the merchants of CrateJoy get 10% off their first order and 5% off for life!

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2) Match demand and supply of your products

You could offer the best, most convenient personalization printing services to your customer base but if you are unable to match demand and supply, your customers will not return to you. Lack of value for money, dissatisfaction with the delivery and poor product quality are some of the reasons that irk customers.

They will cancel their subscription if they are unable to order volumes of t-shirts to match their actual requirements. In such a scenario, they prefer to buy products as and when they need them instead of relies on monthly subscriptions.

But there’s a solution to this problem: a web-to-print storefront will help you in managing orders and inventory effectively. You can keep track of your deliveries and also have an idea of what you have in stock and what you don’t.

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3) Acquire customers through aggressive marketing

Not every consumer will be delighted to subscribe, especially for printing services. Instigating them to sign up for a recurring subscription will dampen their spirit unless they have been doing business with you for a long time and have plans to continue doing so.

All consumers want is to have a great shopping experience – one that allows them to shop cost-effectively or personalize products or services extensively. Whether or not you offer personalization services for t-shirts, business cards, shoes, photo albums, greeting cards, you have to think of different ways to acquire customers.

Offer them a discount or coupon code if they sign up for your VIP membership or get them to make user accounts on your storefront which will get them a cashback. Market these tactics aggressively on your online store via sticky banners, pop-up banners or running paid ads on social media.

As someone who has been in the industry for quite some time, I know exactly what keeps a printing company awake-the need for a business model that is successful and sustainable. In order to get more customers, web traffic, sales, and visibility, you need to have a marketing strategy that performs and delivers results.

Over to you

Subscriptions can enable you to enjoy a loyal, more substantial customer base. However, in this eCommerce segment, churn rates are high, and your customers can quickly cancel their subscription if you don’t deliver a superior customer experience to them. Therefore, think of different ways of accelerating both the profitability and growth of your printing business.

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