Butchers, bakers and organic wine makers: How lockdown Britain fell in love with the subscription box

From deodorant to dog food, new research suggests that pandemic Britain has life on repeat order. But will it last when lockdown lifts? Rosie Hewitson investigates

The success of many subscription boxes likely owe a lot to the closure of bars and restaurants, while others cater to previously empty corners of the market (Getty/iStock)

If, like me, you’ve been burnt by a Graze Box “trial” that kept being delivered to your student flat long after you’d moved out, or had the unexpected pleasure of discovering a fridge full of rotten celeriac when your Abel & Cole-loving flatmate went on holiday (remember those?), you’ll know that subscription boxes have been a growing trend in Britain for a few years now.

But, thanks to a year of loo roll panic-buying, half-hour queues for Big Tesco, and three national lockdowns (with the closure of non-essential shops), more of us than ever are turning to subscription services as a sort of cheat mode to keep our lives ticking over. Companies like Oddbox, Naked Wines, Bloom & Wild, Pact Coffee and Dollar Shave Club have become household names as we’ve sought alternative ways to meet a range of needs, from everyday essentials and ethical alternatives, to lockdown birthday gifts and luxury treats.

According to research by Deloitte, 47 per cent of UK households are now signed up to at least one subscription service, following a significant uptake during the pandemic. The professional services network, which began tracking subscription trends last year, also found that 16 per cent of 25-34-year-olds are signed up to three or more schemes.

Meg, 30, is one such subscription enthusiast. The Londoner has experimented with several services over the past year, especially during the first lockdown when she was living with a vulnerable friend and looking to minimise shopping trips.

“I organised a cat food subscription from Lily’s Kitchen, and toilet roll from Who Gives a Crap?” she explains. “We tried out Beer52 for a while, and we got into jogging so I got a Huel subscription to use in post-workout breakfast smoothies. We were running out of milk and bread really quickly between shopping trips, so I found something called Milk & More, which is similar to an old-fashioned neighbourhood milkman and delivered every other morning.”

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Meg also set up a fortnightly pastry delivery to her mother, who lives by herself in Brighton and is extremely clinically vulnerable: “I wanted to send her something tangible while she was shielding and we couldn’t physically be together.”

Meg’s experiences reflect Deloitte’s findings on changes to consumer behaviour. “It’s clear that the pandemic and the restrictions it has placed on mobility have seen consumers spread the net in terms of the brands and the channels through which they are prepared to shop,” explains consumer insights lead Ben Perkins.

“When you combine that with people spending more time online and on social [media] and the ease with which new subscription-based start-ups have been able to get online and sell directly to consumers, it has created the perfect environment for these brands to flourish.”

One such start-up that has thrived over the past year is Shop Cuvée, a natural wine subscription service founded in March last year by the team behind north London neighbourhood restaurant Top Cuvée.

“When the pandemic hit, we obviously had to close the restaurant, so the initial thing was just to start selling the stock that we had so we could pay our suppliers,” explains co-founder Brodie Meah. “It was super popular with locals, so we made a website to facilitate click and collect orders, and that immediately blew up because the timing was perfect, there was nothing really going on and everyone was just at home spending time on the internet. We quite quickly introduced monthly subscriptions, which have been absolutely massive and continue to grow.”

Meah suggests multiple reasons why alcohol subscriptions, in particular, have prospered over the last year, becoming the third most popular genre after Amazon Prime and grocery delivery services, according to Deloitte’s research. “It’s convenient: people know they’re going to drink at least a couple of bottles a month and it’s automated so they don’t have to think about it,” she says.

“People can find wine a little bit intimidating but they still want to drink something nice,” she continues, adding that the service is “curated by experts” and offers “an experience” for people unable to go to bars.

People can find wine a little bit intimidating but they still want to drink something nice

Brodie Meah

The success of many subscription boxes like Shop Cuvée, Beer Hawk or Craft Gin Club likely owe a lot to the closure of bars and restaurants, as people attempt to replicate hospitality experiences at home. Other services cater to previously empty corners of the market, however, or simply make it easier for people to make ethical choices.

For example, direct-to-consumer brand Wild aims to remove single-use plastic and unnecessary chemicals from everyday personal care products. The company relaunched last year at the beginning of the first lockdown with a range of natural deodorants sold in compostable refill cartridges that fit through UK letterboxes.

Despite deodorant sales dropping by 20 per cent over the pandemic (as well as a similar drop in shampoo sales... we really all just gave up, didn’t we?), Wild managed to grow sales steadily throughout its first year.

Co-founder Freddy Ward attributes this in part to the brand’s sustainability-focused ethos. “When you go into the supermarket and look at the major brands available, the options are still very dominated by plastic,” he says. “I think every brand will be a sustainability brand to some extent in the next few years, but smaller ones like ours are generally able to move faster.”

As well as responding more quickly to consumers’ changing values, subscription brands often offer personalisation, which is not available via traditional channels or straight off the supermarket shelf. Take tails.com, a dog food company offering tailored subscriptions that take into account your pet’s age, breed and activity level among other factors. As CEO and co-founder James Davidson puts it, “we know who our customers are and are in the position to be able to personalise products for them”.

Right now, the thrill of a parcel is getting many of us through the day. But, once lockdown ends and we can once again wander up round our local shopping centre and meet our friends in bars, will we keep up our subscription box habit?

The pandemic was the ‘suddenly’ moment for subscription-based businesses

Professor Steven van Belleghem

Professor Steven van Belleghem, consumer experience expert and author of The Offer You Can’t Refuse, believes that subscription models are here to stay. “The subscription economy has been around for almost 10 years now, and it was growing steadily until the pandemic hit,” he explains. “In the same way that the iPhone suddenly accelerated the smartphone market, the pandemic was the ‘suddenly’ moment for subscription-based businesses. Many companies are recognising this and switching their business model to create more of a community of subscribers.”

Meah and the Shop Cuvée team are already planning more physical stores, though he says that subscriptions will still be key to the way they operate, with shop staff possibly handling subscription admin on the side.

“Just being a retail shop now is not enough,” he says. “I think [subscriptions] will change the way the high street works. It’s only a matter of time before all local businesses start offering subscriptions.”

Now that the country has fallen in love with convenience, having life on “repeat order” may be here to stay.