The pandemic pushed many Americans to retreat to their homes for both work and play, and subscription services are making the most of it.

• About a third of Americans signed up for a retail subscription box as of last year—spending $57 a month on average—per Emarsys research.
• The subscription boom is predicted to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025, according to UBS.

What’s happening? Whether it’s clothing rental services like Nuuly, beauty fixes like Birchbox, or meal kits like HelloFresh, consumers want ease and a great discount when they opt for a subscription, explained Inna Kuznetsova, CEO of intelligence platform 1010data.

“Certainly, they get multiple benefits, including price discounts with subscription deliveries, and convenience and eliminating the reordering from their to-do lists,” she told Retail Brew.

Nutrafol, a hair wellness supplement company, has been offering monthly subscriptions (hero product price point: $79) since 2016, and CEO Giorgos Tsetis said one key to a successful strategy is encouraging customers to “create a habit.”

“There’s no benefit for us to just sell a bottle and someone not to be successful with the product,” he noted to us.

• A whopping 90% of Nutrafol’s DTC revenue stems from subscriptions, and in 2021, the company’s subscriber count increased 102% YoY, according to Tsetis. (He didn’t share specific figures.)
• Kuznetsova also noted that nutrition and wellness-focused companies could have an edge as their products already lend themselves to being part of a daily routine.

But for price-conscious customers, shelling close to $80 a month requires more than just the promise of a good product. “What consumers have told us is that in order to build trust and loyalty [in a brand], what they want is consistency [in terms of quality],” said Katie Thomas, who heads up Kearney’s Consumer Institute.

Tell us about it

For some subscription models, like renting clothes, that could require extra effort.

At URBN-owned Nuuly, for example, it turned out that a number of its customers had never tried a clothing rental service before, noted Kim Gallagher, its director of marketing and customer success.

“There is definitely a learning curve there about what to expect out of renting and how to navigate our assortment, the fact that not every product is available every month, that things flow in and out of our inventory,” Gallagher explained to us.

• Nuuly, first introduced in 2019, lets shoppers choose six pieces each month for $88.

While dealing with expectations gets easier as the customer becomes more acquainted with the subscription, Nuuly has also relied on consistent customer feedback and satisfaction surveys to keep track of their needs.

• It appears to be working: The company said it has reached its “end-of-year subscriber goal” in 2021 and started the year with 50,000 active subs.

What if someone wants to pause their subscription? Click here to read why companies should make it easy.—JS

For Ola, 15-minute delivery is child’s play. The Indian ride-hailing service reportedly wants 500 dark stores—and aims to get to customers’ doors in just 10 minutes—on the heels of a rebrand of its quick-commerce business.

Ola Dash, which was previously known as Ola Store, will introduce the hubs in 20 cities over the next six months.

• It already has 200 dark stores in nine cities.

Keeping up: India has seen increased demand for food and grocery delivery as a result of the pandemic. It’s good timing, considering more companies, like food-delivery service Swiggy, which just raised $700 million, want to grow in the space.

• Ola secured a $500 million loan in December.

“Our quick commerce service is an essential part of our connection with customers as they rely on technology and online service to fulfil their daily needs,” noted Anshul Khandelwal, Ola’s chief marketing officer.

Zoom out: The dark-store phenomenon is very much global. Retail giants from Walmart to transatlantic upstarts like Jokr and Gorillas have used these spaces to hold inventory and follow through on promises like “instant” delivery.—KM

Succeeding in today’s working world takes more than skill and experience. If you’re not a pro at understanding data and financial concepts, you’ll always find yourself left out of the conversations that matter.

Sign up for the Morning Brew Quantitative (MB/Q) accelerator program. Over seven weeks, you and a network of like-minded professionals will learn how to expertly use numbers to drive performance and how to better analyze financial risk before you make decisions—without hating it the whole time.

The first cohort starts soon. Seats are limited, so act fast.

What’s hot? What’s new? What’s next? We’ve been telling you all month long, but just in case you missed it, here’s what lies ahead for retail in 2022:

Cheers: E-commerce is “so 2021”—at least for non-alcoholic beverages. After years of carving out a niche online, the category is seeking a new frontier: retail doors.

Teaching moments: For men’s beauty brands to really take off, education has to be the next step.

Keep it fresh: What does the future of alt-meat look like? Cleaner ingredients, whole cuts, and a lot more competition. New brands hoping to make their mark will need to stand out—whether that be a new protein source or production method.

“What is someone doing in terms of the process that is just really hard to replicate? Or what have they unearthed that just makes their product really, really unique? It could be the way that they manufacture it. It could be the way that they put the formulation together. But something different than just somebody being in a kitchen and developing something new,” Stray Dog Capital partner Johnny Ream told us.

The last link: Oh, and even beyond 2022, we’ll keep talking about the supply chain.

“This decade will be the decade of [the] supply chain,” Under Armour COO Colin Browne said. “The difference between good and great is going to be those brands, those businesses, that really understand how to pivot their supply chain toward [the] customer and that DTC model.”—GT

Today’s top retail reads.

Percolating: From restructuring to chewy “meteorite lattes,” here is how Chinese coffee giant Luckin is bouncing back after a fraud scandal. (The Wall Street Journal)

Time is money: Luxury watch sales are hitting record highs. Lower- and mid-priced models, not so much. What gives? (Business of Fashion)

The hot new thing: McCormick’s acquisition of two hot sauce brands signals the condiment is ascending. “They want to see their hot sauce on every tabletop in the world,” said an industry insider. “It’s the next ketchup.” (Bloomberg)

Essential info: KPIs help organizations measure progress, but which are the most important when it comes to tracking success? In Oracle NetSuite’s guide, you’ll learn about the 20 essential KPIs every growing business should track, and much more. Get the guide here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where we invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic.

Dolce & Gabbana today said that it will go fur-free, starting this year, on the heels of a similar announcement last week from Moncler, which will follow through on its commitment by 2023. A number of brands over the years, including Canada Goose, Prada, and Burberry, have also declared they’ll stop using fur.

But some say going fur-free is the latest trend to score easy points with consumers, akin to restaurants using plastic straws.

• Quartz notes that the move is only a small step in becoming more sustainable, and apparel brands should also step up discussions around things like Xinjiang cotton, due to allegations of human rights violations in the area.

Is it enough? Fur-free is picking up steam in the fashion community, but do brands need to do more as it relates to their ethical practices? Cast your vote here.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Amazon is testing all of the stores
• Why brands should consider embracing negative reviews
• Taco Bell is opening its own biz school