Selling beauty products isn’t easy. Especially when there are so many options, with very little differences. How do you differentiate your product to make it more desirable than the 14,000 other products of the same purpose? How do you present your product in such a way that makes it appealing enough for a consumer to change their usual make up routine?

The answer : Birch  Box. The company was founded in 2010 by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, two Harvard graduates. They believe that instead of going around the corner to your local department store and selecting products to sample, allow Birch Box to do it for you.

How it works:

– You go online to birchbox.com , answer some questions regarding your cosmetic preferences, and as a result birch box provides you with a beauty profile suited to your needs and desires. Then you enter your credit card information, and then every month you will receive a very chic looking recycled package, that encloses your perfectly selected sample products.

If you receive products that you are unsure of how to use, or what the purpose of using the product is, you can visit the website and read about each product, how to use it, and so on. If you decide that you love the product, you can purchase it right on the birchbox site, and then will have it shipped directly to you.

Birchbox is an incredible idea for a business. First of all, the beauty industry is huge, and is continually growing and changing. It is not a dying breed, nor will it be anytime soon. Women are always looking for new products that make their eyes pop more, a new face wash that makes their skin glow a little brighter, and nail polish that fits their constantly changing taste. The market they are appealing to, is an incredibly large and ever-changing market. It is also a really great place for start- up businesses to give their products a test run. It is also a great opportunity for big-name brands to continue to get their name out and present their new products on a platform.

The final thing that I really appreciate about these entrepreneurs is that when they first began generating ideas for the business, the first and most important question they continued to ask was, “How did the business proposition make sense to the customer, and what value propositions can we give to this brand?” They continued to seek the consumer first, and since then, it’s been successful.