You can’t escape it: the shopping trend on the Web is the BOX. The concept comes in all shapes and sizes: for women, children, men, pantyhose lovers, budding gardeners, gourmets, wine or tea connoisseurs and more.
In France, many people have already tried this new way of consuming, by subscribing to these surprise boxes for adults for varying lengths of time (usually 3, 6 or 12 months).
Every month, for an average of €15, you’ll receive a package containing products to discover around a chosen theme. More than 50 players now share this juicy market, and we’re even seeing the arrival of dedicated websites to help you choose the right box, like Kelbox.
In this vast ecosystem, Luxsure has found one of the most complete boxes in the USA. It was launched by the social e-commerce site Fancy, which we already mentioned here at the “FLOW” luxury conference.
Shipped from New York, the Fancy box arrived in just 3 days, via Fedex.
Over in the US, this company is experiencing impressive growth and is beginning to make inroads here. In addition to its traditional online sales via partner brand stocks, Fancy has been offering a box with real products for several months now.
Why do I have to specify “real”? Well, because the main pitfall of boxed products is that their creators include miniatures, samples or products whose content is inferior to that of a commercially available item. This can sometimes be disappointing or frustrating… In this case, it was just the opposite; what great news when I received my Fancy box this week!
the box was white/elegant, with blue tissue paper in Fancy’s colors
Neat, well-padded packaging and 14 different products inside.
All well-made, I found the selection of products well-supplied. I’ll mention just a few to whet your appetite and maintain the element of surprise. American Apparel T-Shirt in my size (but how did they know!)
+ a“sweater-mug” that imitates the texture of a wool sweater… a delight for winter tea-time. In fact, it’s exactly in the style of the “couture mug” available from LOV for €15.90.
and a geeky gadget called “andru” for charging your Android phone, in the shape of the famous Android logo. A small casting error on this product: the plug is US standard… certainly practical for travel, but not for everyday use. Not to mention that if you’re an iPhone enthusiast, this can only be a gift for a friend with a “made in Google” smarphone.
Among the other very pleasant objects I received: a book Paris versus New Yorkwhich is a bestseller from Penguin, and the Moshi Moshi “pop phone”, the retro handset that can be found in trendy Parisian boutiques (Colette, Citadium, etc.) at an average price of €30.
This box, with its many attractive gifts, retails for $30, to which we must add $17 for fast delivery in France. That’s a total bill of around 36€, more expensive than the average, but with contents that can’t be compared!
Fancy offers a choice of 5 categories (“Men, Women, Home, Gadgets, Media”) that can be combined. For my part, I had opted for Women, Home and Gadgets and this is exactly the mix I received, to satisfy several desires.
The only drawback, in my opinion, is that some products are already widely available (and therefore less desirable to consumers), while others are difficult to identify (I’m still wondering what the point is of that Michael Jordan sticker…).
There’s no denying it, this box has won me over; for a very reasonable price, I’ve got enough to equip myself and please my loved ones. I calculated its value: just the 5 products detailed above (T-shirt, mug, book, handset and charger) would have cost me at least €100 in a store.
If you’d like to receive or give as a gift more than a dozen trendy, high-quality products every month, all you have to do is order it. So, are you going to fall for the Fancy box? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Jessica Gauzi
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
