The Next Big Beauty KIO Program: Birchbox

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Birchbox lately, the web-based product sampling service. With the launch of Birchbox Man in April it seems popularity for the service has reached critical mass that any successful web venture needs. It is currently exploding in female demographics and poised to take over the male lifestyle category as well. For beauty, fragrance and haircare brands I believe Birchbox and Birchbox Man will become one of the most useful tools for key influencer outreach there is in the digital space. 

My conclusions are based on the following:

Sampling focus

Innovation and Competition

Pinterest integration 

Social media activity

Sampling Focus

Male and female interest in trying lifestyle products before they purchase them pairs perfectly with the mission of Birchbox, providing high end beauty and hair care samples to subscribers. Sampling has been an integral part in the success of brands like Aveda, Bumble and bumble and Sephora. Some big beauty families have not yet overtaken Birchbox sampling, so it is also an opportunity for young, small or up-and-coming brands to get in the game. For example, currently only two Estee Lauder family brands, Origins and Smashbox, are partnered with Birchbox. So the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of this service is still available for both big and small.

Innovation and Competiton

Brand space is filling up in the Birchbox lineup. Particularly for natural and organic beauty, there are several brands already using Birchbox, most notably Kiehl’s which is not only partnered with Birchbox but was recently featured in a promotion on the Birchbox Facebook page. Partnership with Birchbox could not only give beauty brands klout within the digital space, but stay in step with key competitors.

Pinterest Integration

Pinterest offers a huge area of opportunity to connect with KIOs, new customers and express brand loyalty. Birchbox has a solid 23,433 (and counting) base of followers. They have boards specific to the hair and beauty category where they feature partner’s products. Birchbox may offer an alternative avenue for brands who are not yet on the Pinterest bandwagon to participate in the Pinterest beauty movement.

Social Media Activity

Birchbox has an incredible engagement rate on its social media properties. To take an example, over the past month highly successful beauty brand (and one of my personal favorites), Aveda, has had a 1.3% engagement rate vs. 6.2% for Birchbox on Facebook. To put this in context, if 5% more Aveda fans were talking about Aveda on Facebook that would equate to roughly 25,063 more people chatting about their brand, leading to countless impressions and word-of-mouth worth. Birchbox fans social activity also translates to Instagram where they have 1.8x more followers than Aveda and an astounding 383,106 more Twitter followers than Aveda. 

It is always a good time for samples, but Birchbox has the opportunity to be a key ally to lifestyle brands when launching new products or invigorating old ones. All in all Birchbox is pioneering in the beauty space for both male and female demographics, and brands should take notice if they want to stay on the cutting edge.