With over 28 years’ experience in setting up and managing campaigns, we have supported a wide range of different scratchcard promotions including both physical and digital campaigns. They are ideal for boosting sales and provide many benefits such as the following:

Appetising growth in direct-to-door meal subscription boxes

Subscription boxes are a great way to secure ongoing revenues by offering customers the convenience of a regular repeat order, delivered right to their door.

One of the biggest segments in the subscription box market is mail order meal kits, such as those supplied by HelloFresh, and others including Blue Apron and SimplyCook.

These saw steady growth in the pre-pandemic years, followed by a surge in popularity during lockdown, when consumers developed a greater focus on home-cooked meals and doorstep deliveries.

But is that value growth sustainable in the post-pandemic era? Figures from Statista1 suggest that it is, an indication of the untapped potential still to be found in direct-to-door meal subscription boxes in the years to come.

What is a direct-to-door meal subscription box?

Most consumers are now familiar with brands such as HelloFresh, thanks to their comprehensive campaign of online advertising, influencer sponsorships and social media marketing.

In general, a meal kit subscription box supplies the customer with everything needed to prepare a meal, along with recipe cards that display illustrated step-by-step instructions.

Some services do not include common ingredients like cooking oil, salt and spices, while others ensure that absolutely everything is supplied in the subscription box.

What are the benefits of meal subscription boxes?

A key benefit of direct-to-door meal kits – as with other types of subscription boxes – is convenience, as they remove the need to buy ingredients, weigh and measure them, and learn recipes from cookbooks and websites.

Many food subscription services also make health and sustainability claims, either by providing low-fat, high-protein recipes, or by aiming to reduce food waste by cooking just enough per person.

For busy families, the ability to choose a few favourite recipes online and then receive everything required to prepare them can mean the difference between home-cooked meals or fatty fast-food takeaways.

How big is the meal subscription box market?

Statista’s report(1.) shows that the meal subscription box market passed a global value of $5 billion in 2018 before surging to around $8.5 billion in 2020.

By 2021, the additional activity from the COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide took the market to a valuation of about $11 billion, rising to $13 billion in 2023.

While growth slowed in 2022-23 as economies recovered from the pandemic, Statista forecasts a continued steady increase in the worldwide meal kit market.

As a result, by 2029 the industry is expected to break through the $20 billion threshold, to reach a valuation of $20.65 billion, or about £16 billion at current exchange rates.

How HelloFresh cornered the market

HelloFresh was one of the first of the modern meal kit brands and has pursued an aggressive marketing campaign since its launch, achieving considerable success in terms of revenues and market share.

In 2022, the brand was market leader in Europe, with a share in excess of 80% in many countries and 95% in Luxembourg, Italy and Norway.(2.)

Worldwide, HelloFresh’s number of active customers peaked at more than 8.5 million in 2022 Q1, before falling slightly to 6.64 million by the end of 2023.3

How big is the meal subscription box market?

The COVID-19 lockdowns in countries around the world created perfect conditions for increased demand in 2020-21, due to a number of factors:

Statista’s figures show HelloFresh’s customer base grew substantially during that period, from about 4.2 million customers in 2020 Q1, to 7.3 million in 2021 Q4.(3.)

Demand drives revenues

Increased demand means increased sales and revenues. By 2023, HelloFresh was generating €7.6 billion (£6.4 billion) worldwide, according to Statista.(4.)

That’s more than twice the brand’s value in 2020 and over five times the revenue generated in 2018, with the fastest growth again seen in 2020 and 2021.

More recently, the brand’s revenues have plateaued, remaining around €7.6 billion throughout 2022-23.

Meal kit market growth in the UK

Turning to the UK market in particular, food subscription boxes have seen solid growth in the past five years, a trend that Statista forecasts will continue throughout at least 2028.

According to the analyst:(5.) “The revenue of the meal kit delivery segment of the online food delivery market was continuously increasing over the past years.

“After the tenth consecutive increasing year, the indicator is estimated to reach $1.87 billion – and therefore a new peak – in 2028.”

Between 2024 and 2028, this would see a market value increase of $0.5 billion in the UK alone, a growth rate of over 35%.

Do subscription boxes work for brands?

HelloFresh’s success over the past five years has been staggering – so is it a one-off, or do subscription boxes work for brands in general?

In 2022, we saw Barclaycard research (6.) that showed four in five (81%) UK households made use of subscriptions, up from 65% in 2020.

Crucially, they continued these subscriptions for an average of nine months, giving brands repeat orders and consistent revenues throughout that time.

Compare this with the length of time you’d expect to keep to a healthy eating New Year’s resolution, and it’s clear that subscription boxes offer consumers a way to stick to their principles, while generating ongoing sales for brands.

Logistics and fulfilment for subscription boxes and hampers

MRM understand the elements that go into a reliable subscription box service, to ensure that customers do not have a reason to cancel.

This can include logistics and admin such as:

Some of the most successful subscription box services offer customers the ability to completely customise the contents of each hamper – something MRM’s handballing approach enables for our clients with high accuracy, reliability and consistency.

Find out more

For more information about anything discussed on this page, or to ask us about our subscription box marketing and logistics services, contact MRM today.

You can fill in our online contact form for a quick response, or call us during office hours on 01858 410510 and we’ll be happy to talk to you about our services.

1.https://www.statista.com/statistics/655037/global-direct-to-door-meal-kit-service-market-revenue/
2.https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1372442/europe-market-share-of-the-meal-kits-market-hellofresh
3.https://www.statista.com/statistics/948041/hellofresh-number-of-customers-worldwide-quarter/
4.https://www.statista.com/statistics/655060/hellofresh-net-revenue-worldwide/
5.https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1346146/global-revenue-in-the-meal-kits-market
6.https://www.barclayspartnerfinance.com/home/business/generation-subscription