uOpen – a new online marketplace for subscription boxes, one of the fastest-growing areas of UK retail – has been launched by subscription marketing and management experts Jellyfish Connect.

Subscription boxes are a recurring delivery of niche products – anything from food and drink items to fashion, beauty and games – and have grown significantly over the past four years as both a marketing strategy and product distribution mechanism.

Nearly one in five consumers in the UK signed up for a box in the last six months – some 18.8% of respondents to a recent online survey conducted by uOpen. Less than 1% of those surveyed had had such a subscription in 2014*.

Brands which have embraced subscription boxes range from big names such as Abel & Cole, beauty box Birchbox and Dollar Shave Club to small local brands with the best schemes combining convenience with excitement and value for money. 

Now, with the launch of uOpen, new and established schemes alike – including smaller, independent players previously marketing themselves only regionally - can access a combined national marketplace and showcase for their subscription boxes. 

For consumers, uOpen offers a one-stop shop - allowing them to place orders directly on the site to secure regular deliveries of a wide choice of boxes. 

For merchants, uOpen will market and manage the operating system on their behalf. 

uOpen operates a revenue share agreement making setting up and listing boxes on the site free and straight-forward. This combined with its national reach will be of particular benefit to smaller, local players. 

The platform also supports the growing subscription box community through its online knowledge base, industry insight guides and uOpen Insights seller events.

Carola York, Managing Director at uOpen said: “uOpen offers a fantastic opportunity for entrepreneurs and small businesses to ride the wave of the subscription box trend. We approve each box based on quality, value for money and first-rate customer experience. 

“Through large-scale digital marketing campaigns and social and influencer activities, uOpen will drive huge volumes of traffic from consumers interested in and searching for subscription boxes, making it easy, fast and safe for them to buy through the platform.”

* According to uOpen’s online survey, food and drink is the most popular category for subscription boxes, followed by beauty goods, fashion, shaving and arts and crafts, the survey found. Men seem to outspend women when signing up. 

The highest spending category is the ‘geek and gaming’ sector with an average monthly spend of £65. Next is health and fitness with a spend of £59 while fashion, home and living and family and kids all have an average monthly spend of about £57. Monthly spend on pet products is £54. Food and drink spend is about £52.

The biggest spenders are 16-24 year olds, the survey also found. The 16-24 year olds who participate in subscription box schemes spend over £66 a month. The over-55s who participate spend under £20 a month. 

uOpen’s online survey was of 2,008 UK respondents through Censuswide.