Subscription Society

When I have a look at my monthly bank and credit card statements there is an increasing number of transactions related to subscriptions. Although I have cancelled most of my newspaper and magazine subscriptions I am subscribed to quite a number of services I couldn't have thought of a couple of years ago.

Subscription is a form of business model where a company charges you a fee to gain access to a service. When I look at my statements I see services like Spotify and Netflix but also software services like Dropbox, Evernote and Harvest. Typical digital services that have been around only for a few years now.

Not only services with a strong digital component are being delivered through a subscription model, also physical products which are traditionally being sold through traditional channels are being transformed to services you can subscribe to. One example I personally use is Boldking. They send me razor blades each month by post. Easy and convenient. Especially with my hairstyle.

Now Starbucks has also introduced a new subscription service for its premium coffee brand. For the time being only available in the United States, customers now can receive their coffee at home. For a bag of 250 grams of coffee beans you pay $ 24 dollars a month for an ongoing subscription.

The subscription model will not be limited to digital services, razors and coffee. Our society is moving from ownership to usage-based models. So when I have a look at my bank statements in a couple of years from now, I bet a lot more physical products have been converted to subscription-based services.