Birchbox is a
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
-based online monthly
subscription service
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...
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.
History
Birchbox was established in September 2010
by
Katia Beauchamp and
Hayley Barna, both graduates of
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...
.
In October 2010, Birchbox's initial funding began with $1.4 million in seed funding from investors including First Round and Accel Partners.
[
In August 2011, Birchbox received $10.5 million in Series A Funding.
In April 2014, Birchbox raised $60 million in Series B funding, led by Viking Global Investors, and saw participation from First Round Capital, ]Accel Partners
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 ...
, Aspect Partners, and Consigliere Brand Capital. In July 2014, Birchbox opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York's Soho neighborhood. As of 2014, the company was valued at $485 million.Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
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.
In 2015, co-founder Hayley Barna stepped down from the co-CEO role at the company and joined the First Round Capital
First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies.
Founded by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan First Round typically provides seed-stage funding and focuses on portfolio companies ...
firm as a venture partner. In January 2016, the company cut 15% of its staff.
As of May 2018, it had raised a total of almost $90 million in funding. In October, a minority stake in Birchbox was purchased by Walgreens
Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, a ...
, with Birchbox to open in Walgreens stores, initially 11.
As of May 2019, Birchbox had 230 employees.
Business
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. As of 2021, about 5% of box subscribers went on to make full-size purchases.
After subscribing, the customer takes a survey called a "beauty profile" that aims to customize their future selections to better suit their preferences.
See also
* Online Retail
References
External links
*{{official website, https://www.birchbox.com
Cosmetics companies of the United States
Subscription services