FabFitFun debuts Shop with Friends feature, 5-day sales event

Dive Brief:

As more platforms create social shopping experiences, FabFitFun, best known for its subscription box service, introduced a Shop with Friends feature and announced the launch of FabFitFun Week, according to a press release emailed to Retail Dive.
Starting Thursday, Shop with Friends will allow members to invite three of their friends to shop for members-only online sales. Each friend that joins will give the member another invite to the sale, and shoppers will be able to interact with each other in various ways while looking through products. The company will give members $10 credits for each friend who shops during the sale and a $15 credit for each friend who signs up to be a member, the company said.
The company is also launching a week-long sales event, set to take place between July 22 and July 26. During the FabFitFun sales event, the company will offer members up to 80% off products across various categories, including beauty, fashion, wellness, electronics and home.

Dive Insight:

FabFitFun is adding more member perks and experiences to its site as it looks to add value and grow its membership base. Like some other self-made holidays, notably Prime Day, FabFitFun Week (which spans five days) is limited to members and will be the company's biggest sale before Black Friday, according to the company.

"Our vision is to reimagine the experience we used to have shopping in person at malls with our friends," Michael Broukhim, co-founder and co-CEO at FabFitFun, said in a statement. "For the first time ever, our members can invite friends to experience one of our most popular and exciting perks — our e-commerce sales. They can interact with each other along the way, view friends' carts, recommend products, and find joy and community in online shopping."

The rollout of FabFitFun Week and Shop with Friends is a continuation of the company's efforts to attract new shoppers, and the latest step in its growth journey. FabFitFun reached the 1 million subscriber mark in 2018 and raised $80 million in 2019 to expand its offerings and global reach. The staple subscription box has also evolved over the years. In April, the company debuted its most customized subscription box to-date, offering annual subscribers the chance to pick every item in their box and seasonal members one extra item for four total customizations.

The Shop with Friends tool comes as retailers and social media platforms increasingly focus on creating social shopping experiences for consumers, and as consumers become more comfortable discovering and buying products through social media. FabFitFun joins a growing list of other platforms like Poshmark, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and Verishop in releasing features to make digital shopping more entertaining, including virtual shop parties and livestream offerings.