Subscription Commerce Startup Beauty Army Adds Health And Wellness Options

Beauty Army launched on January 1 with a simple idea, create a way to connect its users with beauty products that they’ll love. Now it’s adding health and wellness products to that objective.

Unlike other subscription commerce options out there, Beauty Army seeks to match customers up with beauty samples that they’re most likely to enjoy. It works like this: Users sign up and create a profile, and then they’re offered a choice of nine samples to choose from. After choosing six, items are sent as part of a $12 monthly subscription. Customers pick the items they’d like to receive every month — and they can update their profile or choose to skip a month whenever they want.

In addition to the subscription commerce portion of its business, Beauty Army also has a typical e-commerce shop, where customers can purchase full-size versions of the samples that they’ve received and liked. That’s where the real money is made, as Beauty Army converts casual sample users to actual product purchasers.

The real BEAUTY of Beauty Army is that the system is designed to learn what to send customers over time. The initial profile provides a start, but through the magic of BIG DATA and MACHINE LEARNING, Beauty Army can provide more relevant recommendations as time goes on. Theoretically, that means happier customers subscriber for longer, and purchasing more full-sized items from its e-commerce site. With more than 100 brands and hundreds of thousands of products to choose from, getting recommendations right is key.

Now Beauty Army is going beyond just the typical hair, makeup, and skincare items that it had been offering, and is adding health and wellness items to its inventory as well. According to CEO Lindsey Guest, the idea is to highlight “beauty from the inside.” It’s also looking to cash in on the huge health and wellness market, which is estimated to be worth some $170 billion. To tackle that market, the startup is adding partners like Mighty Leaf Tea and Immuno-Viva, among others and offering their samples and products to users.

Since launching in January, Beauty Army has been doubling users and subscribers monthly, according to Guest. The reason for that, she believes, is that people are tired of receiving random things in the mail and want a more personalized experience. That approach appears to be working for beauty items. Let’s see if it applies to health and wellness items as well.