Book Subscription boxes. This is a completely new term to me. I have heard of different subscription boxes especially grooming ones but about this one I was clueless.

I came across one such service in India through my Company’s internal blog and I was curious to know about their Business Model (A curious Entrepreneur in me screamed for it :P) and I was curious to know How would they manage to cater the Bibliophiles with different tastes? Well, that’s something interesting and that’s where the challenge lies.

In such a Business model one should understand their target audience. For a country like India with a vast population and with different interests and Genre tastes, they should take many possibilities into account. Fiction Crate is not the first to step into this space and there were few before them. Whenever a new idea is launched in a Country which either have no idea about it or such service is unavailable “First Mover advantage” always plays a big role. For, the likes of Ola, Flipkart etc., they were completely new to the Indian Market and still many Indians are stuck with them though they are pricey, worst customer support and with many other issues, First Mover advantage is a killer shot.

Companies or Start-ups who come after them should carefully study the present market and unleash their strategies. Every business has a Unique selling Proposition either the existing players or the new ones. USP is something which makes the business stay in the market on a longer run. One must not just stick to the USP but they should evolve along the market trend.

I personally believe Fiction Crate have done their research well. When most of the existing Subscription boxes work on theme-based or genre based these people are open. Also, something I noticed in all other Subscription boxes is that they are priced high. The first question comes into the head of an Indian individual is “Why should I spend so much to buy a book with some goodies?” when most of the Indian households still consider buying books as a waste of money why should an individual spend so much on a  Subscription box? Well, none of the existing ones could answer this question and thus would explain their current state, but there seems to be a steady growth in this line of business.

Why do I love Fiction Crate?

I was reluctant to subscribe to a Book subscription box initially. When Chennai Bloggers Club was reached by Fiction Crate for us to review their service, I signed up myself with them. Once, I received an email stating that I was selected and received an email from them I was curious.

I just loved the wait and I was eagerly anticipating the surprise I would be unleashing in the box. Here, you can check out my “Unboxing Video” here.

I received the Subscription box worth Rs.699/- which includes a Book and a T-shirt. Remember? A couple of paragraphs above I mentioned something called USP? This is what I meant. None of the existing subscription boxes apart from Fiction Crate have this T-shirt option which falls under the Rs.700/- category. Now, this is the deal. A very good deal I should say. The quality of the T-shirt is great and the book I received is from an Author I have never heard of. I believe this surprise element is the reason for the rise in this industry.

Areas of Improvement:

• I would strongly recommend Fiction Crate team to add some genre suggestions, not every bibliophile would like Fiction. Please, allow us to choose the genres while Signing-up and if possible also allow us to change or add multiple genres. I understand the difficulty which comes along but it definitely is worth a bet.
• Please do not enter into Theme based subscription boxes there are plenty in the market already.
• The quality of the box could be improved. I know I am complaining too much but the box was fizzled out when I received it. If they fall under the budget of yours and makes sense to improve the box quality I would highly appreciate it.
• I understand there is nothing much you can do with Bookmarks apart from adding some quotes but Why shouldn’t you try adding some pics in them? Well, Quote bookmarks are available everywhere some images of interesting doodles, pics would make them interesting.

Without any further say, I would definitely subscribe to Fiction Crate to receive some good T-shirts and books of different Authors whom I have unheard of. Also, please keep sending those personalised cards. They are really thoughtful and please do not scrap it.

Check out their different Subscription Plans

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Do share your experiences, happiness and feedback with them and I am sure they would be Happy to accommodate you. 🙂