Today, we’re talking subscription-based beauty—in both style and care. Plus, a bit about cross-pollination in the professional sphere. Why is it important?

Your top subscription news

Subscription packing

Rent the Runway is back in the limelight—expanding beyond home closets—now making your vacation a bit more seamless. The clothing rental and subscription service has teamed up with Marriott International’s W Hotels to offer visitors a style experience suited just for them.

Beginning tomorrow, those staying in W Hotels will have the option to pay a $69 fee upon arrival, which will offer them four styles from Rent the Runway’s curated selection. Of course, the wardrobe options will take into account the climate and possible surrounding activities of the resort, like pool lounging or skiing, for example. 

This comes on the heels of the news that Rent the Runway plans to launch a brand made entirely of recycled materials. It may sound gimmicky, but they’re actually really nailing it with their encouragement of “buying less stuff.” They’re also moving into other categories like home essentials (alongside West Elm) as well as kids apparel. 

“I think as Rent the Runway comes to life, we are seeing how dynamic subscription can be,” RTR’s COO Maureen Sullivan said about its new offering.

And our good friend Grace is a subscription fashionista, so I was keen to hear her thoughts. She's dabbled in quite a few subscription style platforms, right now on the Haverdash train. 

So we asked G if Rent the Runway is pulling at straws, or if these are actually solid ideas on their front.

"When I first read the headline, I assumed it was too good to be true. A recurring issue with rental clothing is, 'What if it comes in and it doesn’t fit properly?' My thought was, 'Oh if you ordered something and it doesn't fit and you also didn’t pack, you’re screwed.' But then I kept reading, and learned they have additional clothing at these hotels, in case what you ordered doesn’t fit...

I think if all goes well, this will change travel fashion for everyone. On the flip side, it may mean less money for airlines. Lighter suitcases means less people having to check a bag for a certain fee." 

And apparently Rent the Runway will ship items directly to W Hotels, where they’ll be delivered to your hotel room for your convenience. And at checkout, the clothes can be left behind in your room.

Living a life of luxury, without the luxury prices.

P&G x Billie

Procter & Gamble plans to buy out D2C grooming brand Billie. Billie, which calls itself “the new body brand,” is mainly a women’s subscription-based outlet for personal care items like razors, body wash, lotions.

And Billie Founders Georgina Gooley and Jason Bravman are pretty pumped about this one. They’ll still run the company under P&G, but with added room for growth and great resources to develop new, premium products. 

Because there needs to be room for expansion revenue. The beauty of subscription is that for the first time in our history we have a business model where relationships are built directly into the revenue model. If a customer continues to like you, they aren't going to churn, and they may even buy more of what you’re selling, so to put it bluntly: More is almost always better when it comes to expansion revenue.

Linked here, we have a ProfitWell Report all about how much expansion revenue you need to be successful, backed by the data from 5,000 companies and 300,000 subscription consumers. 

Dare to be different

Drift CEO David Cancel, in his most recent newsletter called The One Thing, brings up a super solid argument. It’s simple, but it’s strong. 

“You’ve likely seen people sharing lists of the books they read in 2019 and the ones they hope to read in 2020,” he starts out. David posted his own list to Instagram and Twitter as well, and says oftentimes he reads them concurrently. 

But why?, I wondered. 

Because a lot of the subject matter relates to itself, he says, teaching him things in one book that he may not have previously tied into another. Essentially, the information cross-pollinates. 

So this got him thinking.

“Everyone in our industry tends to go to the same events, get the same coaches, listen to the same podcasts, read the same books. But by doing that, we’re not cross-pollinating.”

We’re all going to have the same source of ideas, facts, and behaviors for how to run our companies, our teams, ourselves.  

“We’re not going to come up with breakthrough ideas by doing everything the same.”

So here’s his challenge: Instead of continuing to go to the same events, find totally, radically different ones in another industry to attend. If you’re in tech, try to find something in the film industry, or something in the construction business. Try any event—no matter how far out of your domain—as long as you’re confident that the best of people in that industry are going to be there. In doing so, you’ll get the best ideas and be able to cross-reference with others, for the better of us all.

Here's a link to sign up for David’s newsletter. It’s always worth the follow. 

Protect the Hustle feat. David Cancel

"Whoever gets closer to the customer wins." That phrase, first uttered by brilliant marketer and storyteller Bernadette Jiwa, could not be truer today. If you think about some of the major shifts that have happened in the past couple of decades, we can see this notion pretty clearly with Airbnb taking down hotel chains, Ubers beating out cabs, Netflix getting physically closer than Blockbuster, and the list goes on...

And that’s a wrap for your January 22 subscription news. Recruit your teammates into the subscription know: profitwell.com/recur/recurnow to sign up for episodes on the daily.

If you have news to share, hit me up at abby@recurnow.com and we'll collaborate.