010:From One-Time Boxes to Quarterly Subscriptions with Stacey Collins of Wilshire Collections

One-time sales are great, but not knowing what to buy or how many to plan for can make you crazy. In this episode, I'm chatting with Stacy Collins on how she took one-time box sales and curated a booming quarterly subscription.

Welcome to the Launch Your Box podcast with weekly tips, tricks, and strategies to start, launch, and grow your subscription box. Now here's your host, Sarah Williams.

Hey everybody, I'm here today with my friend Stacy Collins from Wilshire Collection. Stacy has an awesome subscription box called Decor at Your Door. I can't wait to share it with you on this episode. Stacy, tell them hello, tell them a little bit about Wilshire Collections.

Hey y'all, thank you Sarah for having me. Um, I'm Stacy, owner of Wilshire Collections. I am a DIY and decorating blogger, and I love all things crafty and all things, just making your home beautiful. So I spend a lot of time over on Facebook doing lives and crafting and sharing decorating tips and tricks. And I love shopping too, so that's a big part of the equation.

So how did your love for crafting really transition into a home decor subscription box?

So I, as I said, do a lot of lives, I do a lot of crafting, but then I also show people what I do with those crafts afterwards and how I style them, or just anything that I do around my home. I'm always doing projects or just, you know, rearranging my decor. I'm a chronic rearranger. And so a lot of times I would post a picture of my living room, my mantel and end table, whatever it may be. And I just would always get questions. Where did you get that? Where can I get that? Do you sell that in your store? And at that time I wasn't selling any decor. I didn't have any physical products like that. And I was hesitant to just sell one random picture frame on my site. I couldn't see how that really would fit and make sense in my business with everything else I had going on. So, but I started seeing the need for it and I started seeing that people wanted those decor items.

So I think you've totally just downplayed everything because if you know Stacy or if you follow Wilshire Collections, she has like magazine-worthy, um, living room and mantle and home decor everywhere. So I'm sure everyone wanted to know how they could make their living room or their tablescape or their entryway look exactly like yours because it is magazine worthy and you're showing them how to do it. And then not only showing them how to do it, but then you're showing them how to style it and how to style it, how to decorate with it.

And it's hard when I'm like, well, I got this at, you know, Hobby Lobby, but it was 3 years ago, so you can't really get this anymore. And so, you know, they were wanting the things that I had in my home and was decorating with.

So, so let's just go back a little bit. So almost a year ago you joined Launch Your Box.

Yes.

And at that time you have a, you have a great business. Yeah. You had started added a kind of one-time boxes every season. So every season you were curating these home decor boxes.

Yes.

But they weren't on a subscription yet. You had just really— you just show up and you would sell them, and then you would— it would be done.

Yeah.

And then you would curate another box, you would show up, you would sell it, and it would be done. And I want to know, like, what were the challenges of selling? Because you weren't just selling 10 or 20, you were selling how many?

Yeah, well, in the beginning, I think the very first one I did, I ordered 150 of the items and I thought, oh, we're probably going to get stuck with some of these. Like, I thought that might be too much, but it ended up being the exact opposite. And I sold out, I mean, within probably 15 minutes, my first, my first launch of just a one-time box. And quickly realized that the need was there and that people wanted these boxes. And so for me, it was quickly figuring out, okay, well, what quantity do I need to get and how am I going to do this?

I did—

I love seasonal decor. And so I started off with just a Christmas box because I'm like, this is the holidays, let's just put a little something easy. The perfect time to try it. And I'm like, I'll just see if they like it. And then I was like, oh, okay, they like it, you know. So then when that— when the next year rolled around, I was like, let's keep trying this but try it seasonally. And, um, I'm kind of known for my seasonal decorating, so I was like, let's try, you know, spring box, summer box, fall box, Christmas box. Um, and I was selling those, like you said, just as a one-off, not as a true subscription at that time.

So, so what made you want to really put that on a subscription?

Like to move it over to a subscription. So when I started just doing them as one-offs, I kind of did it because I wanted to make sure that it was a good fit into my business, but also that everyone else liked what I was doing.

Right.

And once I realized that, that it was on both ends, I knew that it was gonna be easier in the long run to set it up as a subscription to where I'm not every single quarter having to go out and, you know, post those that they're for sale. And I've got that recurring and hope that they sell and hope that they sell. Exactly. And it gave the ladies that were buying the boxes one-offs were wanting it as a subscription because that gave them that security because they were used to— they didn't have to show up to your live and hope they got it because they were used to them selling out so fast and people getting disappointed if they didn't get one. So they were asking like, can we lock these in? Can we go ahead and sign up for the next time? And of course, that first year I had to be like, no, you know, not yet. But that's why I was like, I don't want to have to tell people no anymore. So it worked out really well.

Awesome. So you moved it into a subscription.

Yes.

And now how have you grown?

I mean, we have definitely doubled since last year. And I mean, on average, we're going to be doing about 400 boxes this year, which is so awesome. And honestly, I could maybe do more than that, but that's just where I'm comfortable with right now, just with my— where we're, where we're shipping them from and boxing them and all of that. But it's just been amazing to see the growth.

It's such a good number. And I think that so many subscription 1000 box owners would love to be at that number. But it's like what you said, you really have to grow into it. You can't just throw a whole bunch of stuff at somebody that's, you know, trying to figure out all the logistics, because there's a lot of challenges. If that you— once you figure them out, it's okay. But right, you don't want to do that with 5000 boxes. You want to do that with 400.

Exactly. And that's why I feel like it was like a good learning year, the first year. Okay, this is what works. This is what doesn't. This is— and it also gave us an idea of how big we could scale and what we were comfortable with for right now. And that doesn't mean that that might not be more down the road, of course, but for now that was kind of our, you know, comfort area.

There's a lot of factors in how much you can take on, and let's just talk about those for a minute. Yeah, there's staff. So as you take on more subscribers, you're going to need more, more hours or more employees, right? So that's something that you have to decide. With what the staff I have now, we can handle the 400. If we can't handle more, do I want to hire someone to be able to handle that, right, or not. Um, you've got to look at the space you have to fulfill because your box is not a small box. No.

And they're— yeah, big items.

They're big items. So you really— you don't want to— you can't pack in the, you know, in my garage.

Yeah, yeah, it's on the kitchen table. That is not going to cut it.

I mean, I know a lot of us started there.

Yeah. Oh yes, I don't want plenty of things for my kitchen table.

Yeah, you don't want to keep doing that month after month when it's it's kind of a hard situation. So you've got to factor in all these little things that eventually are going to cost more money, right? So you've got to invest more to grow more. And if you're comfortable and happy with $400, you stay there, right? You're profitable, you're making money, you're creating recurring revenue. So there's no reason to have to feel like you need to grow so fast.

Pressure of— yes, exactly. I completely agree with that.

There's one thing that makes you a little different than a lot of us subscription box owners. And that's the fact that this is a quarterly subscription versus a monthly subscription. So I want to talk a little bit about what, what are the reasons that you chose for this subscription to be quarterly?

Yeah, so I mean, a couple of different reasons. Like I mentioned, I'm kind of known for seasonal decorating. It's my favorite. I love being able to— I, like I said, I like to redecorate a lot, so it's a good excuse to change out your decor as each new season rolls around. I don't go all out and decorate every inch of my house, but I have certain areas I like to decorate, and that's what I feature on the blog. And so it just seems like a natural thing, like, okay, when I'm decorating for spring, I can show them and send them these items that they can also decorate with. So that was one of the reasons I just love the seasonal decorating. But also because I do have so many other areas and avenues of my business, I wasn't sure that I could commit to a monthly box and just adding that, you know, to my plate. So quarterly just seemed more manageable for me.

It didn't seem overwhelming.

It didn't seem overwhelming, exactly. The thought of monthly, I felt like, okay, we'd get them out the door and then we're doing it again, you And I just, I just thought, I think quarterly is a better fit for us right now.

So, and you mentioned to me that the anticipation in between the quarters, it really builds up the excitement for these boxes. Tell me a little bit about that.

It really does, because, because there is a little bit of a gap in between when they get their boxes. By the time the time rolls around that that spring box or that summer box is coming, they are ready for it. They're excited for it. And I don't know, it's just, it's a fun thing to watch because people, you know, they just anticipate it. It so much.

And I think that rolls into the whole experience of the box. And I, I wanna break that down for you because, you know, a lot of times we talk about this inside the membership, that it's not about the things, right? It's, you think it's a box of things, but it's, we're really curating an experience for them.

Yeah.

And for you, you're putting it all together for them. Some people just can't see things the way that you see things.

Exactly.

And so you're just creating a convenience. You're creating an experience for them. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about how you do that inside your box.

And I was just gonna say, I just thought of this. My boxes are mystery. So they're surprise boxes, which in the beginning, in my head, I was like, oh no, I'm not going to do a surprise. I want to show them the things because I was like, excited. But they all wanted it to be a mystery. And so that has been huge, just because not only do they have that anticipation of, you know, yay, it's time for that box to come, but what's going to be in the box? What has she picked out this time? And the thing is, I've built up so much trust with all my ladies that They know I'm gonna pick out cute stuff that they like. If they like my style, they're probably gonna like what's in the box. So that has been really cool, you know, to see that or whatever.

But, um, you create these, um, style sheets.

Yes, the style sheets. Yes, yes, yes. So I want them to have the experience. I don't want them to open up a box and go, oh my gosh, all this cute stuff from Stacy. I don't know. Now what? Yeah, now what? Now what do I do? So I include a style sheet where I usually show 3 different ways that I style the decor items in my house. So I'll show the pictures and then I give description, like if I add something to it, like I just stacked this vase on, um, some old books, you know, and then put a candle next to this and show them how to create little vignettes, which is just a fancy word for a little grouping of objects. So that way they can actually feel like, hey, I not only got this cute decor, but I've decorated it in my house and it looks great. So it's a whole experience for them, for sure.

You're really helping them consume those contents of those boxes because you and I both know that if our subscribers get a box box and they don't know what to do with it, or they don't know how to use it in a way that makes them happy or makes them, you know, actually take it out and use it, it's going to sit in the box. Yeah. And then the next box is going to come and it's going to stack on top of that box.

Right.

And then the next box might come and they think, why am I—

and then they're going to get frustrated and be like, I'm not even using this, I don't know what to do with it.

Yes, I'm just gonna cancel it.

So I try them and then I do live reveals, you know, just like you do afterwards. And then I always be— I'm sure to share pictures on my page like, this is how I styled the item. So I try and do as much as I can to kind of just lead them through that process.

So I love it. And I love the— let's, let's talk about your new box because you're really known for this buffalo check pattern. Yeah. And it's kind of your signature behind your brand. And recently, just this last month, you sent out your box with this beautifully custom buffalo plaid box. I know your subscribers are going to freak out, flip out.

I can't wait. They— yeah, they just shipped, so they should be getting them anytime.

But those of us that are just getting started that may not have the extra money to invest in a box like that, because it does cost more money.

Absolutely.

You didn't start that way and it's okay not to start that way. And I want you to tell them like how you started, what you used, and then how it's evolved.

Well, my very first little trial box was just shipped out of a brown Amazon box with no sticker, nothing fancy. I mean, it was really, really basic. And then once I decided to kind of do it a seasonal thing, but not subscription, I went with a white box that I got off Amazon. I ordered some cute stickers from Sticker Mule that had my Decor at Your Door logo, and I was happy as a clam. Like, I loved those stickers. I thought those boxes were great and cute. The ladies loved them. But I knew this year, after I was rolling it into a subscription, you know, I see your box and I see all these cute boxes. I'm like, I want to have a cute box one day. So I do think that's something that if you can't do it right off the gate, at the end of the day, do they like the cute box? They're going to love the cute box, but they care about what's side, you know. So if you can't do that cute box at the beginning, it is okay.

It is. We want, we want everyone to be profitable.

Yeah.

And so, and that's more important than if that $2 takes away your, your what's going to go in your bank account at the end of the, at the end of the month there. We don't want to do that. We want you to be profitable first, then take some of those profits as you build this subscription base up and invest it in the boxes. Because, you know, the more boxes you can buy at one time, the cheaper they're going to be.

And that was the other thing that was important to me, to be able to buy them in bulk so that I could, you know, save a little bit on that end.

And I know you told me before we got started here that your ladies are probably going to save those boxes.

Yeah.

And that's just another part of the experience. Yes, they're going to save them. They're probably put their old seasonal— they can put their old—

they can use them for storage. That's— yeah, I'm excited to actually see how they use the boxes.

Yes.

Some of them are so creative, they might store their craft supplies in them or their decor. I mean, who knows? But I know they're excited just to get those boxes in general.

So, well, I really love your journey of really testing this out. One, you told me you wanted to make sure that you loved it just as much as your customer, and I think that's super smart of you to really put it out there as a one-time box. You know, we do this seasonally. I know you did it at Mother's Day when you first got started. Yeah, it's always a great time to sell some extra gift boxes. I do it at Christmas as well. Yeah, because it really lets you test out and get your box in front of other people, right? Yeah, but you tested it and you decided quarterly was the answer for you, and it's not the answer for everyone. And I get asked all the time, should I do monthly or quarterly? And there's, there's pluses and minuses both ways.

You just have to figure out what works for you and for your business and for your, your customers, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, Stacy, there's people listening that have a subscription box that are growing it. There's people listening that are just getting started. They may have had this idea. I know I sat on it for a year. You probably sat on it for a while. What advice would you have for anyone wanting to start a subscription box?

Yeah. You know, the first thing that comes to mind is just to not overthink it. I, you know, even though I had an, I, you know, an idea in my head, I'm the kind of person that if I sit and stew on something too long, I'm going to think of every reason why I shouldn't do a subscription box. Why I, I don't have time. I don't have this. I don't, I don't know if people like, you know, whatever it may be, but if you know that the need is there, and I knew that the I knew that, that my ladies wanted this. If you know that you have a good idea, you're— that your, your customers want this, don't overthink it, do it, and you're going to figure out the rest. It's not going to be perfect from day one. I don't know anyone who's ever launched anything and had it just right from day one, but you're going to figure out those little things along the way and it's all going to work out in the end. So just don't, don't sit on it for too long. Just don't overthink it. That would be my biggest advice. Nice.

It's always messy, and I think that we always overthink it. I still overthink.

Oh yeah, I overthink everything.

So just know that everybody is doing that, so that shouldn't be what stops you. It's always messy. I'm like, let's do it and figure it out later.

Figure it out later. Yeah, exactly. And I think that that's the way to go sometimes.

So Stacy, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. If they, if they are not following you, tell me where they can find you and, and get on your waiting list for Decor Your Door.

Yes, yes. So if you go my website, wilshirecollections.com. You'll see the Decor at Your Door button right there. You can click that and get on the waitlist. You can find me on Facebook at Wilshire Collections and then Instagram, Wilshire_Collections.

And we'll put all of those links for you in the show notes, so all you have to do is go over to the show notes and you can find Stacy.

Yay! Thank you, this was awesome. Thank you for having me.

Y'all have a great day. If the idea of creating a subscription box is swirling around in your head, I encourage you to head over to launchyourboxwithsarah.com, get on our waitlist, and grab some of our free downloads to help you get started. That's launchyourboxwithsarah.com.