As an elder millennial who is trying to do it all (and ideally hit my daily protein goal along the way), I’m not buying products — I’m buying a routine, predictability, and little moments to romanticize my life. In 2024, we’re living in what I like to call the Routine Economy, where shoppers are driven by the pursuit of the ultimate daily routine.
If we take a look at subscription data from 2023, we find that the brands that sold products integral to customer daily routines excelled. The beauty and personal care and health and wellness categories lead the charge. Beauty and personal care brands, for example, clocked an 82% year-over-year gain in monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
Amazon’s most recent record-breaking Prime Day sales saw shoppers focused on everyday items and small indulgences that elevate their everyday. On TikTok alone, millions of posts have been tagged with #skincareroutine, #morningroutine, #workoutroutine, and more. From a daily caffeinated beverage-of-choice in the morning to a nightly skincare regimen after a long day, routines are ways to care for ourselves without having to think too hard about it.
Millennials and Gen Z — two of today’s biggest spending cohorts — may differ in terms of priorities, but they do share similar purchasing patterns: They’re willing to splurge to elevate their everyday experiences, and demand convenience and value when they do so. With this pattern, the idea of routines has become more important than ever.
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The Rise of the Routine Economy
How did we get here? What we’re seeing when we look into consumer behavior is an evolution in our economy, and we’ve seen how DTC brands have evolved to overcome these types of evolutions before.
First, we saw DTC brands successfully disrupt the trend of commoditization that came with the beginnings of ecommerce by prioritizing direct relationships with consumers and establishing brand loyalty. Then, with the rise of social media, we entered the Attention Economy. While it’s now easier than ever for brands to have a direct line to their customers, it’s just as hard for them to cut through the noise. This shift led to rising customer acquisition costs and an increased focus on brand virality.
But today, it’s no longer enough to have a great product. It’s no longer enough to go viral and get my attention. It’s no longer enough to differentiate based on a convenient and flexible purchasing experience. You have to cement your products in your customers’ day-to-day life, and you have to stay there.
To truly disrupt the economy, brands must go beyond transactional relationships and become integrated into consumers’ daily routines and lifestyles by solving genuine problems and enhancing the lives of their customers.
Brands are facing a new challenge: evolve or perish. Smart brands are thinking about tomorrow and obsessing over efficiency, total cost of ownership, retention, lifetime value and conversion.
Rethinking Subscriptions to Reach the Routine-Driven Consumer
The true art in this era of ecommerce is understanding how to keep your customers not only today, but into tomorrow — or, in other words, how to convince them your brand is worth a spot in their daily routine. Subscriptions are the foundation of a great routine; they’re products that arrive where and when you need them.
Subscriptions used to be thought of as a “set it and forget it” type of offering. That is no longer the case. Brands should be thinking about subscriptions as a living, breathing part of their business strategy that helps them build stronger relationships with their core customers.
- Subscriptions = routine: Add a call to action in your brand navigation, and create a subscription benefits landing page. If your brand promise requires usage to see results (lots of supplement, skincare and wellness brands fall into this category), make sure your customer onboarding experience educates accordingly so they stick around.
- Provide flexibility: Routines are ever-changing, so brands providing optionality is key. 53% of subscribers to Recharge brands made adjustments to subscription orders in the last year. A subscription that’s too rigid risks losing customers to more flexible options.
- Keep subscribers engaged: Basic subscription incentives like first-order discounts are a great start, but more dynamic rewards will keep your subscribers engaged over the long term. Whether it’s punch card rewards, milestone-based rewards, cash back, credits or free gifts when subscribers tend to drop off, rewards are opportunities to surprise and delight your customers.
In the Routine Economy, the brands that get it are the brands that understand how powerful a routine is and how to seamlessly integrate and stay a part of a buyer’s routine. These brands intimately understand their customers and tailor every aspect of their business accordingly. The winners of the Routine Economy will be the brands that invest in their subscription experiences, engaging their customers in a timely and personalized way that lets them see themselves in the products they love — not just today, but looking ahead to tomorrow.
Jen Gray is a veteran tech leader, having led growth and strategy at companies like Qualtrics, Adobe, and Filevine. With over a decade of experience in go to market strategy and customer experience, she joins growth stage companies at their pivotal multi-product moment to drive efficient growth, product expansion and an impactful cohesive brand story. As SVP of Marketing at Recharge, a leading ecommerce subscription platform, she runs global marketing strategy empowering innovative merchants to fulfill their brand promises through dynamic subscription experiences.
