This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
Bellabox Asia has announced that it will be putting an end to its subscription box service, after three years of providing Singaporeans with monthly boxes of beauty samples.
The Australian company made the announcement on various social media platforms yesterday, and thanked loyal subscribers for their patronage.
BB UPDATES:With effect from 30th April 2015, bellabox will be stopping our beauty box subscription service. All…
Posted by bellabox Asia on Thursday, 23 April 2015
This comes as a shock to loyal users, especially since Bellabox had just received a $5.5million investment in September last year. They had also announced the hire of Stephanie Michel as their new CMO as recently as last week. This move means that instead of serving as e-commerce director of Bellabox Asia in Singapore, she now leads the marketing team across both Australia and Singapore — two countries in which Bellabox is available.
No similar announcement regarding the end of the subscription service was made on the Bellabox Australia site.
Bellabox’s subscription box service follows in the footsteps of Vanity Trove, a service in Singapore that has since pivoted to focus on being a social media platform for ladies. It’s also similar to Lolabox, an Indonesian subscription beauty box service that shut down operations last year after only one year in the market.
With Bellabox — which has long been a leader in the subscription box service in Singapore — shutting down its service here, it brings to question whether subscription box services are a dying trade, and whether this passing trend will soon give way to a stronger e-commerce culture.
The Vulcan Post team has contacted Bellabox, and will post updates if we hear back.
[UPDATE]: Bellabox Singapore is now holding a “Closing Down Sale”, with 60% off storewide with a minimum spending of S$70.
