 | |
| Industry | Cosmetics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founders | Katia Beauchamp Hayley Barna |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Owner |
|
| Website | birchbox |
Birchbox is a New York City-based online monthly subscription service that sends its subscribers a box of four to five selected samples of makeup or other beauty-related products. The products include skincare items, perfumes, organic-based products, and various other cosmetics. [1]
Since 2023, it has been owned by Retention Brands. [2]
Birchbox was established in September 2010 [3] by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, both graduates of Harvard Business School. [4] In October 2010, Birchbox's initial funding began with $1.4 million in seed funding from investors including First Round and Accel Partners. [4]
In August 2011, Birchbox received $10.5 million in Series A Funding. [5] In April 2014, it raised $60 million in Series B funding, led by Viking Global Investors, and saw participation from First Round Capital, Accel Partners, Aspect Partners, and Consigliere Brand Capital.
In July 2014, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York's Soho neighborhood. [6] As of 2014, Birchbox was valued at $485 million. [7] [8] In October, it partnered with Soldsie to launch its first Instagram shop. The shop allows Instagram users interested in Birchbox products to purchase directly through Instagram by leaving a comment on a photo with the hashtag #birchboxcart. [9]
In 2015, Barna stepped down from the co-CEO role at the company and joined the First Round Capital firm as a venture partner. [10] In January 2016, the company cut 15% of its staff.
Five months after raising $90 million, it had a minority stake acquired in October 2018 by Walgreens, whose stores began offering its service. [11] [12] However, Birchbox cut 70% of its staff of 230 employees in January 2020. [13] [14]
After being purchased by star-up FemTec for $45 million in October 2021, [15] the online subscription service was acquired in 2023 by Retention Brands.
As of Jan 2021, Birchbox has 300 thousand subscribers and 500 thousand active customers. Birchbox's incentive is that the consumer will choose to purchase the full-sized product of whatever sample they've grown to like from the Birchbox website afterward. [16] As of 2021, about 5% of box subscribers went on to make full-size purchases. [17]
After subscribing, the customer takes a "beauty profile" survey that aims to customize their future selections to suit their preferences better. [18]
drugstore.com was an internet retailer in health and beauty care products. Its web operations were launched on February 24, 1999, and shut down on September 30, 2016 after being acquired by Walgreens in March 2011 for $409 million.
Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products with nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, and includes beauty products such as cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, nail color, beauty tools, body lotions and haircare.
Alliance Boots was a multinational pharmacy-led health and beauty group with corporate headquarters in Bern, Switzerland and operational headquarters in Nottingham and Weybridge, United Kingdom.
Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional operating funds in London, India and China.
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Xero is a New Zealand–based technology company that provides cloud-based accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. The company has offices in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Xero's products are based on the software-as-a-service model and sold by subscription, based on the type and number of entities managed by the subscriber. The products are used in over 180 countries.
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e.l.f. Cosmetics is an American cosmetics brand based in Oakland, California. It was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in 2004. Items include bath and skin-care products, mineral-based makeup, professional tools, eyeliners, lipstick, glosses, blushes, bronzers, brushes, and mascara, among others.
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BeachMint is an e-commerce company with six fashion and lifestyle brands: JewelMint, ShoeMint, StyleMint, IntiMint, HomeMint, and BeautyMint. Each brand features a subscription shopping model with personalized product recommendations for its members from their respective celebrity and expert.
Julep Beauty, Inc. New York based cosmetics company founded in 2007 by Jane Park. The company sells its products online and in its own branded beauty parlors
Subscription boxes are a recurring delivery of niche products as part of a marketing strategy and a method of product distribution. Subscription boxes are used by subscription-based ecommerce businesses, referred to as "subcom" for short, which follow a subscription business model. They target a wide range of customers and cater to a variety of specific needs and interests. It is estimated that there are 400 to 600 different kinds of subscription boxes in the United States alone and more overseas. Subscriptions vary in both cost and frequency, making them more accessible to a greater range of customers with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Subscription boxes tend to range from $10 to $100.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) is an American multinational holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, which owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens in the US and Boots in the UK, as well as several pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies. The company was formed on December 31, 2014, after Walgreens purchased the 55% stake in Alliance Boots that it did not already own. The total price of the acquisition was $4.9 billion in cash and 144.3 million common shares with fair value of $10.7 billion. Walgreens had previously purchased 45% of the company for $4.0 billion and 83.4 million common shares in August 2012 with an option to purchase the remaining shares within three years. Walgreens became a subsidiary of the newly created company after the transactions were completed. As of 2022, Walgreens Boots Alliance is ranked #18 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
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Hayley Barna is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded Birchbox in 2009, while at Harvard Business School. In 2015, Barna "stepped away from her day-to-day role" at Birchbox, remaining a board member. In 2016, she became a partner of First Round Capital.
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Katia Beauchamp is an American entrepreneur, billionaire and co-founder of Birchbox.