Boudour Prive Vs Glossybox, how do they compare?

The temptation to compare Boudoir Prive to Glossybox is something that at this moment I am finding hard to resist. Certainly, I am sure I am not the first to do this, and you can be sure that I won't be the last. In my opinion, the websites of the two brands are remarkably similar right down to the font use and the shopping cart used for subscriptions. Both brands rely on social media to interact with and appeal to subscribers, and both brands offer a monthly subscription where samples arrive on the doorstep of the subscriber in a pretty pink box.

Boudoir Prive costs £10 a month; Glossybox will be £12.95 from September. Glossybox gives 5 samples; Boudoir Prive advertises 5/6 depending on the month so some months you may end up with an extra sample in your box.

So far, the Glossybox samples have been bigger than those that came in the first Boudoir Prive box. They also seem to have much more of a 'wow' factor, big names, big bottles, gimmicky products. Boudoir Prive samples are smaller but they seem to be better quality and they are certainly a lot more obscure. You are more likely to find products that you never knew existed in Boudoir Prive than in Glossybox.

Glossybox seems to be very much about giving new and fashionable brands that their subscribers can be using just before they hit the big time. They'll be a big hit for a few months and then disappear into history, but not before you've flashed your beauty product du jour around your friends and made them all jealous. Boudoir Prive is more about finding yourself a product that you have been considering for a few years, or have spent a long time trying to find the perfect quality of for a long time. You know, if you like a Boudoir Prive sample, you'll be sticking to buying it for the next few years at least.

For subscribers, Glossybox seems as though it is going to be giving the best value for money with the bigger sizes and exciting brands. But Glossybox subscribers seem preoccupied with how much their box is 'worth' each month and with getting the big names that they can't usually afford. How will this translate to sales for the brands marketing themselves with them?

For a brand looking to make sales, my prediction is that Boudoir Prive will bring them more sales from their marketing investment. Boudoir Prive are unapologetic in their reluctance to create a 'wow' factor in their boxes. They don't tempt subscribers with big flashy products and as many full size products as they can cram into the pink box. Instead, they search out staple, everyday products that maybe their subscribers haven't heard of, or maybe their subscribers have always meant to try but never parted with the money for. In the long run, this is more likely to result in sales, and then repeat sales for their brands.

Boudoir Prive seem to be looking to attract subscribers that already buy luxury products and are looking at trying the same quality as they usually buy, but with brands they may not usually. Glossybox seem to have fallen into the trap of needing to provide brands that already have a folllowing in order to save their subscribers money on their beauty products.

In the short term, I think Boudoir Prive will have the smaller subscription numbers with Glossybox outdoing themselves with known brands and full size products to gain subscribers and justify their price hike. I think long term, however, Glossybox customers will be likely to be fickle - chasing the next big beauty trend - considering the value of their monthly investment - and unsubscribing on a whim, disappointed with one month's box or when they decide they need their money elsewhere.

Boudoir Prive subscribers are likely to remain loyal to them, signing up to trial new things in the knowledge that the samples might be smaller but that the products themselves will be picked for their quality not their fashion appeal. I think Boudoir Prive will grow slowly and they might be disappointed to begin with that their subscription rates per box are not growing dramatically, but they will keep those that subscribe to them and grow slowly but steadily. I predict that their boxes will sell more products than Glossybox's and therefore the size and quality of their samples will also steadily improve with more and more brands wanting to get involved and eventually, Boudoir Prive boxes will have more impressive brands than Glossybox.