Remember Subscriptions?

There was a time (pre-COVID) when we were told we had to have subscription-based ecommerce business models.

Netflix is a great subscription model ... you don't own anything, you are constantly paying them. You need a new supply of money each month (i.e. your salary), they need a constant supply of fresh content each month. Everybody wins ... especially Netflix.

Of course, you sell widgets. The customer only needs a new widget every two-hundred days, which limits your subscription opportunities to an annual basis.

There's a reason commerce always devolves into a marketplace/mall.

• If you sell everything, then the customer needs you every day.

And if the customer needs you every day, then you can get away with an annual subscription of pre-paid shipping (fused with content, obviously). The rest of us either get to have a sunglasses stand in the mall or we're on our own. There are countless advantages to being on our own, but the work is a lot harder.