Af Morten Suhr Hansen
On May 30th, it is once again time for one of the most festive events in Danish business, when the Danish Chamber of Commerce hosts the celebration of the best Danish e-commerce companies in a wide range of categories under the title ‘The E-commerce Award’.
We have had the pleasure of being part of the Danish Chamber of Commerce and the E-commerce Award for many years, and we were delighted when the organization accepted our proposal a few years ago to include a category for the best subscription service. It may seem entirely natural today, with the great focus on subscriptions, but at the time, it was a forward-thinking and innovative decision by the Danish Chamber of Commerce to include this category. We owe them great thanks for this, as many exciting subscription companies have competed for this award over the years.
Let’s take a closer look at the five nominated candidates, and following that, I’ll share my thoughts on what characterizes a successful (and thus worthy of winning) subscription service. Lastly, you’ll get a little ‘teaser’ on how you can learn even more about the five exciting nominated companies.
And the nominees are …
The five companies competing for the title of best subscription service this year are quite different, both in terms of size and how long they have been operating, and in terms of the type of product you can subscribe to. But this only makes the competition even more unpredictable.
Here are this year’s five finalists:
GoLearn: Last year’s winner in this category, GoLearn, has impressively made it to the finals once again. GoLearn is an e-learning platform focused on professional skills such as management, marketing, and HR. Thousands of videos from leading experts guide and teach the subscribers. It’s the only B2B concept in the field.
Matas: Last year’s runner-up is once again at the forefront of the competition. This is due to the highly successful innovation and rollout of Club Matas Plus, the subscription extension of the loyalty club ‘Club Matas’.
Memmora: Cemetery maintenance on subscription. Probably not the first thing that comes to mind when starting a subscription business. But the skilled team behind it has, in just two years, created a rapidly growing subscription service to take care of the final resting place.
Saphe: A huge success created in Aalborg and now rapidly spreading across the European highway network. Saphe is a traffic alarm that reminds us all to drive safely and warns us of serious incidents on our route.
Undy: Underwear on subscription, primarily for men. And socks. How often do we forget to refill our drawers with the essentials? Undy has got it covered for you. Here, you can subscribe to exactly the products you need.
What Makes the Right Subscription Winner?
Five very exciting and diverse companies, but what should they really be capable of? When is one a worthy winner? What would I especially look for if I were to crown this year’s best subscription service? Here are my thoughts. It’s important to note that neither I nor anyone else at Subscrybe is part of the jury for selecting the best subscription solution of the year. Many of the nominees and finalists are our clients, so we would naturally be highly biased. Therefore, I am just as eager as everyone else to see the outcome.
But here’s what I would particularly look for:
First, whether the subscription concept itself is innovative and groundbreaking. Does the value proposition align with the subscription itself, or is the subscription just a payment method for a product? For me, it’s clearly the former; the subscription should offer something additional on its own.
Secondly, whether the subscription solution focuses on creating strong relationships over time. How are different loyalty drivers integrated into the solution? How does the company work to engage and activate its customers to continually ensure positive behavior?
Thirdly, whether the subscription solution is actually progressing. How is the subscription base growing, and are there realistic plans for it to continue growing in the future?
I won’t give my assessment of the five finalists based on these parameters. I leave that to you and the jury. However, I do believe that the five finalists can easily be reflected in several of the above criteria, naturally.
Want to Learn More About the Five?
At Subscrybe, we’d like to give you the chance to get even closer to the five finalists, who are also good friends of our company. Therefore, over the coming weeks, we’re creating a mini-series within our podcast format ‘Subscription Talks’. In five podcast episodes, to be released in the coming weeks, you can hear the five finalists themselves talk about their subscription solutions and why they deserve to win.
My two good colleagues, Jonas Juul Jeppesen and Jonas Nygaard, will be interviewing the five, and there will likely be an episode from the final show itself.
Find all the episodes where you usually listen to podcasts. Enjoy the celebration on May 30th, if you’re lucky enough to attend.
