What's in the Box? Investigation of Beauty Subscription Box Retail Services

The purpose of this study was to explore key attributes that may influence customers’ behavioral intentions toward beauty subscription box retail services (SBRS). The Stimulus‐Organism‐Response paradigm was used as a conceptual framework for examining the relationships among variables, such as product‐related attributes (Stimuli), attitude (Organism), Word of Mouth (WOM), and repurchase intention (Response). A total of 357 useable responses were collected through an online survey, administered on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model and hypothesized relationships. Results suggested that product quality, product assortment, and product uniqueness were significant predictors of customers’ attitude toward SBRS. Furthermore, customer attitude toward SBRS had a significant positive influence on WOM and repurchase intention. This study provides insight for retailers to influence WOM and purchase intentions toward beauty SBRS.