Weekly news roundup
1. Ikea invests in Danish “Uber for office furniture” – Dagens Industri
Nornorm is a Swedish-Danish venture that sells subscriptions for office furnitures, with the retail giant IKEA as main investor. Their idea is letting companies refurnish whenever they want, as often as they want and at a low, fixed cost.
“In the past, you probably rented furniture in such cases. But it is mostly a way of technically postponing costs. After the leasing period, no one takes back the furniture – you might even throw them away to lease new ones?”
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2. Whoop, selling fitness trackers by subscription, raises $200M – Reuters
Whoop is popular with professional athletes and offers a monthly subscription for round-the-clock health monitoring through a free fitness band it provides with the membership. The funding round was led by the Japanese investment giant Softbank.
“The company said it would primarily use the new capital to invest in research and product development, international expansion and membership offerings.”
3. Volvo car subscription service claims 15 percent of all retail sales in the UK – AM-online
Volvo Cars’ subscription service, Care by Volvo, has delivered 2,500 cars to customers in its first year, accounting for 15 percent of all its UK retail sales. The Swedish brand said this is “comfortably beyond” the initial 5 percent targeted for the service at the end of its first year.
“Care by Volvo Flexible is based on an open-ended, three-month rolling contract, following an initial 30-day trial period; after that time, the customer can change their car or end their subscription with three months’ notice.”
4. A Swiss company sells carbon capture on subscription – Dagens industri
The Swiss company Climeworks has inaugurated the to date largest facility for direct carbon capture from the air in Reykjavik, Iceland.
“Climework’s customers include Microsoft, the reinsurance company Swiss Re and the Canadian e-commerce company Shopify. In addition, it is stated that there are approximately 8,000 private individuals who purchase carbon dioxide capture from the company through subscriptions.”
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5. Schibsted invests in subscription service for organic sanitary pads – Pressrelease
SYD, which was launched on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021, offers organic menstrual protection by subscription. The media giant Schibsted is now investing in the company. In total, SYD raises 10 million SEK, with Schibsted accounting for the majority of the money.
“[Syd’s] business model also includes a close collaboration with Save the Children, which means that for every package sold, 3 SEK goes to the organization’s effort to help girls to go to school during menstruation in parts of the world where safe protection is not available.”
Weekly analysis roundup
1. Publishers rethink their value to stave off subscription fatigue among new paying readers – Digiday
How many subscriptions can one reader pay for? And how many will they keep, especially without the rollercoaster of 2020 to keep them locked into the news cycle, asks Digiday, while noting that publishers now are investering more in content across multiple formats to add to the value of a subscription.
“In the last year, the Times has hired “around 10” people each to its creative services and growth marketing teams to support its subscription strategy, including designers, copywriters, acquisition marketing managers, retention marketing managers, a media director and media planners, among others.”
2. Volvo Cars: Subscribers are younger than buyers – and geographically dispersed – Dagens industri
Through the subscription service Care by Volvo, which was launched in 2016, the car brand wants to meet the customers who particularly value flexibility. According to the CEO of Volvo Cars in Sweden, subscribers are generally younger than buyers, and not concentrated in large cities, but spread out through the country.
“You may keep your car a little longer. Then that is so and we will have to adapt to it. We can’t force the outside world into our way of thinking. It’s not possible anymore”
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3. Apple caves & the subscription economy raves – Subscribed
On Friday, a judge ruled that Apple can no longer force developers to use its payment in apps. This might sound like a small detail to the average user, but it’s a huge deal for any app developer who wants to truly participate in the subscription economy, writes Subscribed in an analysis.
“[…] the Subscription Economy was never just about media and software. Friday’s ruling only proves that point. Now gaming companies, business developers, education providers and app developers of all kinds have the freedom to develop their own subscriber bases.”
