Lessons from SubX: Operations Fuel eCommerce

From cat food to consumer electronics, subscription-based retail is booming, with the global eCommerce market now worth over $330bn.

From Product Fit to Fulfilment

I was delighted to hear from some of the biggest eCommerce success stories at the SubscriptionX 2024 event and glean first-hand how they’ve innovated and scaled to offer their customers irresistible products.

At the Whistl Group, we’re familiar with what it takes to deliver growth. We’ve worked alongside some of the UK’s most notable subscription trailblazers, including grüum and smol.

Effective brand building, precise positioning, and intelligent product placement are shared components that contribute to their respective successes.

However, there’s one other defining factor that unites each standout subscription-based business—slick logistics and delivery management.

This topic formed part of a panel discussion on “Strategies for sustainable growth - from product fit to fulfilment.”

Key Takeaways from the SubscriptionX Panel

Alongside Roshni Patel (Head of eCommerce, Wild Nutrition), Gyve Safavi (Co-Founder & CEO, Suri), and James Collingham (Director of eCommerce, Pooch & Mutt), I shared some of my insights into successfully scaling and operating a subscription business.

Here are some of my key takeaways:

• Communication is vital for a fast-scaling eCommerce brand. All too often, new product launches or marketing campaigns are not properly cascaded to the operations team, causing backlogs and an increase in tickets due to late order processing. Getting the operations team involved in strategy is key to avoiding this!
• Real-world barriers need to be understood. For example, your warehouse may only have two shutter doors. But if you’re scaling, can you take in two or three more stock deliveries per day and support more courier collections? All too often, I see trucks being unloaded outside while products get soaked, as there’s no better alternative.
• Remember your warehouse staff's training needs. A strong team that fully understands its deliverables—from the operator level upwards—can drive huge efficiencies and absorb additional volume while scaling.
• Know your operational ceiling. Selling more products is excellent, but you'll fail fast if you can’t keep up with orders. Stress test your operation to see what output you can achieve, then work out if you need any additional headcount, need to adjust shift patterns or need more space to pack all the new orders. You'll find it hard to scale if you can’t fit more packing benches into your warehouse.
• Being agile enough to react to spikes and dips is crucial when scaling. Subscription orders are more straightforward to forecast, but you can’t always rely on previous patterns. Ensure you have enough flex in your operation to cope with huge spikes, as they will occur!

And here’s some advice and reflections from the other members of the panel:

Gyve: Scaling an eCommerce brand requires a fail-fast, learn-faster approach.

Roshni: Recruiting good quality employees is hard, both in terms of digital expertise and warehouse capability.

James C: Managing inventory when scaling can make or break success. Ensure you allocate B2B and B2C inventory correctly and in real time to prevent overselling across different channels.

Gyve: Listen to product reviews and act fast. Effectively acknowledging your customers allows you to improve the product, which ensures you keep those customers!

James C: Spend time getting to know your subscriber customers. Make sure they are engaging with your brand to prevent churn.

Gyve: For subscription-based businesses, it’s important not to spend too much or too little stock on each delivery. You don’t want to burden customers with more than they need!

Value for Money and Convenience Continue to Drive Subscriptions Growth

The Subscriptions Report features a comprehensive update on the state of the market.

As consumers continue to embrace the idea of memberships, subscriptions have grown, with digital and software subscriptions leading the way. However, it’s interesting to note how traditional retail lags behind, with only 6% of the RetailX Global Elite Retailers list offering subscriptions.

Of those that do, the most common pattern is between two and four options, which provides consumers with a reasonable amount of choice without becoming overwhelmed.

Electronics and Beauty Dominate Subscriptions

Regarding consumer habits, it’s perhaps unsurprising that higher earners are more likely to pay for premium shopping services.

Over two-thirds (68%) of higher-income consumers are paying for free or cheap delivery or another benefit, compared to 56% of those on middle incomes and 51% of lower earners.

The report also revealed that consumer electronics, beauty products and homewares are the most popular retail subscription categories. Meanwhile, monthly payments are by far the most common payment method (74%), with the remainder of retailers offering yearly payments (23%) or one-off annual payments (3%).

Therefore, it seems evident that any online retailer set to provide subscriptions with should strongly consider a monthly payment option.

Discover Scalable and Tailored Solutions from Whistl

Outsourcing subscription fulfilment services to Whistl makes perfect sense for fast-growth eCommerce retailers. We give our customers the confidence to scale and have a proven track record in implementing fully customisable solutions.

From box curation to packaging and personalisation, our work is completely tailored to your business and designed to improve efficiencies and quality control.

Why choose Whistl?

• We operate nationwide, multi-site fulfilment centres. You’ll benefit from later cut-off times and an improved customer experience.
• Our multi-carrier relationships give you access to discounted carrier rates with one invoice and one point of contact.
• Enhanced Delivery Management and Proactive Tracking Support increase first-time deliveries and improve customer satisfaction.
• We can even provide freight forwarding, inventory management, returns management and product refurbishment, saving you more time and money. Additional customer service support delivered via UK-based contact centres is also available.

Want more advice on scaling up successfully? Contact me personally on LinkedIn or use our fulfilment enquiry form, and we’ll respond to you.