Liberty London Gets into the Beauty Subscription Box Game

A Royal Mail report forecasted the UK subscription box boom to be worth £1.8 billion by 2025, increasing by 135% since the last report on the industry in 2017. UK consumers spent almost £1.4 billion on subscription box purchases in 2020, and delivery providers made just under 88 million subscription box deliveries to subscribers across the UK. According to MARC Group, the global subscription box market reached a value of $18.8 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20.1% during 2021-2026.

Liberty London announced it is getting into the beauty subscription box game, launching The Beauty Drop. The discovery box ships four times a year with over £300 of must-try products curated by the Liberty Beauty Buyers. The subscription is £20 a month, is fully redeemable against future purchases, and box subscribers get free delivery on all beauty orders, member-only offers, and exclusive rewards.

Continuing its expansion into the beauty category, Next also launched a beauty box subscription in July. The subscription period is for three months and costs £20 per month plus a delivery cost of £3.99.

The beauty subscription box market is quite nascent compared to more mature markets like the US. Glossybox and Birchbox market leaders in the UK and online retail Lookfantastic have been in the beauty box business for years offering limited-edition boxes. Other players include Beauty Pie, Cohorted, and Meebox.