

Please stay classy and stop copying BirchBox - labaraka
http://labaraka.tumblr.com/post/19452076036/please-stay-classy-and-stop-copying-birchbox

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nupark2
Multiple successful low-cost copies demonstrate the barrier to entry is low,
and in doing so, improve the efficiency of the market.

Unsuccessful copies _may_ demonstrate that the barrier to entry is high (for
whatever reason), and may in doing so still improve the efficiency of the
market. Likewise, a failed clone may simply demonstrate the copying entity's
inability to compete.

Regardless, I don't see how attempts to copy (and improve?) are a bad thing
for the market.

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maxstoller
I don't think it's 'unclassy' to replicate a successful model in another
vertical, but this model usually doesn't translate well.

BirchBox gets all of their samples for free. Beauty companies are used to
giving out free samples and consider it a marketing expense.

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kristenlee
Business is about competition, every product in history has had competitors so
I don't see what the big deal is. If you know a market I can enter where I
will face no competition please let me know because I want in.

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garethsprice
I'm sure the BirchBox team are lovely people and good on them for building a
successful business, but they did not invent the idea of subscribing for a box
of goodies.

BirchBox launched in May 2010 (source:
[http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-08/strategy/3037...](http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-08/strategy/30372330_1_customer-
tech-challenges-job-descriptions) in which it's already described as a
"NetFlix [clone] for beauty", NetFlix having started in 1999).

startupschwag.com started operating in mid-2007, sending startup t-shirts by
subscription.

<http://testtube.newbeauty.com/> appears to have been running since early 2007
in the exact same market that BirchBox is in.

Wine of the Month Club (.com) pre-dates the Internet, sending wine by
subscription since 1972.

Why would you consider applying an existing business model to a new market to
be cloning or copying; especially when there's no market overlap? Applying a
successful model from one industry to enhance another seems to be the very
definition of innovation.

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tomjen3
Why? Any good business idea will be copied and adapted. Most of those changes
won't be good and most of the clones will fail. But that doesn't give the
original creators of the business model any right to be annoyed. A new york
company is no different.

