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Subscription Box Services Take Off Around The Country

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Do you get your dinner ingredients or beauty products delivered in a box? If so, you're part of a fast-growing sector of e-commerce.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, subscription boxes are making entrepreneurs out of many local moms and merchants.

Nothing says "New York" like a bagel and a shmear, and Andrew Hazen is spreading that New York taste one box at a time.

"BagelOfTheMonthClub.com is a monthly subscription service where we take bagels made by sixth-generation bagel and bialy makers and ship the across the continental U.S.," Hazen said.

Nine hundred boxes a month arrive fresh to subscribers.

"Ex-New Yorkers really miss a good New York bagel," Hazen said. "We get emails from Texas, New Mexico."
Hazen has hit a soft spot in e-commerce, serving up deliveries in subscription form. It is a craze that started with Birchbox, which offers beauty supplies.

Now, 10,000 companies cell subscriptions.

Cookie Luv, based in Huntington, has 18 varieties of homemade artisan cookies. It found a niche in college dorms.

"We will send it monthly so it's set it and forget it, which is great idea for college parents who just want to remind their kids, 'Hey, I'm here, I love you,'" said Cookie Luv Founder Martha Knaupp.

Entrepreneurs like the business model because they can predict their workload and have a steady stream of revenue. Subscribers like the discount they're often receiving, and the element of surprise.

MySubscriptionAddiction.com, which tracks 3500 boxes, says pot luck is the new browsing.

The most popular boxes are the ones that have a huge value compared to the cost ," said Liz Cadman, founder of My Subscription Addiction. "I may be paying $10 for the beauty samples, but they're worth $40 or more."

Two Long Island moms who launched the girls' empowering organization A Mighty Lass is now selling subscriptions to a mighty box.

"We look at this of a monthly dose of empowerment," said A Mighty Lass co-founder Emma Brandt.

"We pick the theme and research the best products for our girls," said A Mighty Lass co-founder Cami Gallagher.

Some analysts predict the subscription box market may be saturated, but the firms just getting started already have a waiting list.

Big brands are also getting in on the action. Disney, Target and Sephora have launched subscription services.

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