FabFitFun Launches In UK Backed By $80M In Funding

LONDON, United Kingdom — Wellness, beauty and fashion subscription box company FabFitFun has launched in the UK following an $80 million investment round earlier this year.

In addition to doubling down on international expansion, the 9-year-old company, which has over 1 million subscribers in the US and Canada, will use the recent funds to expand its offerings and evolve its platform as a marketing partner and launchpad for brands.

“Part of the push and raise in funding was making international a priority,” Katie Rosen Kitchens, FabFitFun co-founder and editor-in-chief told Glossy.

“For us, it’s about what we do well and best. In many ways, bringing our California-based style and products to the UK is very much like bringing it to the middle of the country, because it’s about giving women everywhere access.”

Since launching in 2010, FabFitFun has grown from a newsletter and blog to an expansive lifestyle membership with more than one million members globally. This growth has been driven by the brand’s unique retail engagement platform, which helps consumers discover and learn about lifestyle products in beauty, wellness, fashion, fitness, and more.

Its flagship product, the FabFitFun Box, delivers a curated collection of full-size products across beauty, fashion, wellness, fitness, home, technology and beyond, each season. In addition to the box, FabFitFun members receive access to FabFitFunTV, a streaming video service offering on-demand wellness videos, daily lifestyle content, the FabFitFu online Community and year-round exclusive sales and shopping experiences.

According to TechCruch, in 2018 the company generated over $200 million in revenue, having emerged as a distribution channel that brings retail to the platforms where consumers are most engaged.

“The company’s personalised connection with its community allows brands to better understand and interact with consumers – establishing a long-term relationship rather than simply a transaction,” commented  Mood Rowghani, a General Partner at investment firm Kleiner Perkins, which led the latest funding round.

Each season, FabFitFun designs customised programs for its partners, including access to celebrity/influencer networks and curated product events. These initiatives generate hundreds of millions of targeted impressions and allow brands to develop more intimate and enduring touchpoints with their end users.

Its UK strategy will follow the same model, with the brand enlisting the help of British influencers including Lauren Pope and Gemma Atkinson to promote its presence.

“Working with influencers is how we think we are going to unlock the UK, and these other countries we are looking at to create a meaningful presence,” Co-Founder, Michael Broukhim told Glossy.

In addition, by working with a wide variety of women that represent its members, the brand has managed to cultivate a loyal community of customers that other subscription boxes haven’t.

One of the biggest challenges that subscription services are currently facing is client churn, according to The UK Subscription Box Boom Report by Royal Mail. But with the UK subscription box market predicted to reach a total value of £1 billion by 2022, for brands like FabFitFun that are boosting retention by creating a lifestyle proposition beyond the service the growth opportunities are significant.

Male grooming and beauty subscription services offer the biggest growth opportunities in the market, suggests the report – with male grooming subscriptions having the potential to attract almost two million members by 2022, making them the fastest growing subscription category.

Beauty box services, meanwhile, are forecast to grow by 229.8 percent between 2017 and 2022.

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