Subscription based Business

Subscription-based Business

The concept of a subscription-based business is not new, as we have seen with magazines, newspapers and membership programmes. For a business, a subscription ensures a stable customer base and longer-term revenue.

The rise of digital and online services has afforded enterprising individuals the ability to provide subscriptions to several new types of products. Subscribed products can now include curated physical goods (e.g. meal kits, men’s razors, beauty products, car rentals), digital products (e.g. digital games, videos, art, meditation guides) or other services, i.e. the X-as-a-Service (XaaS) concept. This gives creative entrepreneurs the potential to sell a broad range of new products and services to a new base of customers.

The challenge for new subscription-based businesses is to figure out how to continually engage subscribed customers with interesting and relevant content, to reduce the likelihood of them terminating the subscription. Being able to innovate, while maintaining production costs and avoiding creative or administrative burnout, requires good planning and management. Ultimately, an entrepreneur who is able to maintain a subscription-based business with a sustainable long-term plan is in a comparatively better position for lasting success.

This guide provides supplementary resources for those who are keen to further explore this topic. You can also visit NLB’s online catalogue to search for more resources.

Resources

Books

Title	Description
	Subscribed: Why the subscription model will be your company’s future - and what to do about it All rights reserved, New York, New York : Portfolio/Penguin Tien Tzuo, Subscribed: Why the subscription model will be your company’s future - and what to do about it. New York, New York : Portfolio/Penguin (Call no. 658.87 TZU -[BIZ])
	The art of membership : how to attract, retain, and cement member loyalty All rights reserved, San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Sheri Jacobs, The art of membership : how to attract, retain, and cement member loyalty. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass (Call no. 060 JAC)

Ebooks

(myLibraryID is required to access the ebooks from NLB Overdrive)

Title	Description
	Win Keep Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business. All rights reserved, Morgan James Publishing, 2021 Mark Stiving, Win Keep Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business.. Morgan James Publishing, 2021)
	The Forever Transaction All rights reserved, McGraw Hill LLC, 2020 Robbie Kellman Baxter, The Forever Transaction. McGraw Hill LLC, 2020)
	The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce All rights reserved, Figure 1 Publishing, 2019 Adam Levinter, The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce. Figure 1 Publishing, 2019)
	Membership Essentials: Recruitment, Retention, Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources All rights reserved, Wiley, 2016 Sheri Jacobs, Membership Essentials: Recruitment, Retention, Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources. Wiley, 2016)
	The Membership Economy All rights reserved, McGraw Hill LLC, 2015 Robbie Kellman Baxter, The Membership Economy. McGraw Hill LLC, 2015)

Websites

Subscription Trade Association. “SUBTA: The World’s Largest DTC Subscription Community.” 2022. https://subta.com

Fontanella, Clint. “What’s a Subscription Business Model & How Does It Work?” February 25, 2022. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/subscription-business-model

Zuora Content Team. “9 Keys to Building Successful Subscription Business Models.” 2022. https://www.zuora.com/guides/nine-keys-building-successful-subscription-business/

Marr, Bernard. “The Best Examples of Subscription Models.” March 9, 2022. https://bernardmarr.com/the-best-examples-of-subscription-business-models/

Videos

Uscreen. “Subscription Business Models – 6 Types You Should Know.” August 21, 2019. Video, 13:06. https://youtu.be/hYG0tuYuzKU

SUBTA Studios. “Gary Vee and the Subscription Business Model with Christopher George.” May 6, 2020. Video, 16:38. https://youtu.be/_Es46L1ayNg

Learn With Shopify. “Build Recurring Revenue: How to Start a Subscription Box Business.” February 24, 2021. Video, 11:10. https://youtu.be/b_1QM4Dyy7w

PolyMatter. “Subscription Affliction – Everything is $10/month.” 2018, June 8. Video, 11:05. https://youtu.be/lTKuQQegNTs

Journal Articles

(Retrieved from Proquest Central. mylibrary ID is required to access this database)

Klopčič, Alenka Lena, Jana Hojnik, Štefan Bojnec, and Drago Papler. “Global Transition to the Subscription Economy: Literature Review on Business Model Changes in the Media Landscape.” Managing Global Transitions 18, no. 4 (Winter)(2020): 323-348,351.

Spencer, Pat. “Why Financial Planners should Embrace a Subscription-Based Model.” Journal of Financial Planning 35, no. 1 (2022): 30-33.

Baden, Denise and Regina Frei. “Product Returns: An Opportunity to Shift Towards an Access-Based Economy?” Sustainability 14, no.1 (2022): 410.

Singh, Mahendra, Jiao Jiao, Marian Klobasa, and Rainer Frietsch. “Servitization of Energy Sector: Emerging Service Business Models and Startup’s Participation.” Energies 15, no.7 (2022): 2705.

Author

This resource guide was prepared in April 2022 by Kevin Seet, Librarian at the National Library, Singapore. The information in this resource guide is valid as of April 2022 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history on the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.