Boxed: Home delivery for bulk consumables

October 28, 2014 

BMC POV

Fulfilling latent but unmet consumer needs is one of the best ways to create business opportunity, and the founders of Boxed have nailed it. They started with a desire to solve a shopper problem, “I want to buy in bulk, but I don’t have time for a trip to the warehouse store.” Then they tested their proposition and moved quickly to respond to the opportunities they created.

In the process they’ve added yet another innovative online option for shoppers – this one offers the convenience and savings of buying consumables in large quantities without the hassle of membership fees or a special trip.

Boxed describes itself as “a mobile company selling consumables.” From their mobile platform, they target millennials and moms with an offer that includes more than 1,000 large-size packages of consumable products at competitive prices. Products deliver to the home (or office) within 2 days. No membership fees are required.

In a Fierce Retail interview CEO and Founder Cheih Huang says they started with the mantra “create a service that you’ll use.”  Now that customer service is a priority, that’s evolved to “create a service you love.”

The Bigger Picture 

Some online retail innovators will fail, but those that succeed are rapidly changing the landscape in important ways. They are

• Expanding shopper choice and delivering greater value to more customers in the process.
• Changing the way people shop for food and other consumables. Shopping occasions no longer require “shopping trips.” Now shoppers can focus directly on the occasion and go directly to whatever online retailer or platform best meets their needs for that occasion.
• Increasing the options retailers have to get product to customer. The original press coverage on Boxed trumpeted them as killer competition for Costco, one of the retail partners from whom it buys to resell to its customers.  Costco doesn’t see it that way; a spokesman told GeekWire that Boxed is generating additional revenue for the company, and that it’s one of many ways Costco is experimenting with getting goods to customers.