The monthly subscription box has become a very popular option in just about any genre or niche you could think of. The popular Birchbox for beauty products and Loot Crate for geek and gamer gear are two that instantly come to mind.
Now, the subscription box service has come to disc golf. While it isn’t the first to try this idea, the Disc Golf Box Company has used what others have done in the past and tried to build upon it to make a better product that people would want to use. For a monthly fee (other frequencies are available) you can get a few discs chosen at random along with some other disc golf gear. The higher levels include more products, but also include a better bang for your buck.
Disc Golf Box Company Owner Alex Morales thinks they’ve found the right combination and can’t wait to get their next shipment out to disc golfers everywhere. We talked with Morales to learn more about the company and what you can expect each month.
Before we get into the product itself, let’s talk about how things got started for you. How long have you been involved with disc golf? What made you want to start your own disc golf based company?
“Ok sure, I have been playing disc golf for about 2 years now, and my sister, another owner of the company is the one that introduced me to it. She’s been playing for close 10 years! Sometime last year I was between jobs, and therefore had a lot of time on my hands, so i started playing 5 or 6 days a week, and needless to say I was hooked!”
“As far as starting a business, I’ve helped to grow and run businesses all over the country for other people since I was 19 and learned a ton about how to do business the right way among countless other things, plus I started seeing how disc sports where growing so rapidly and being featured on ESPN, and getting more press coverage etc. You couple that with the passion that I and the other Owners share and boom, the Disc Golf Box Company was born.”
The monthly subscription box idea has been growing for a few years now and can be found in virtually any niche in the world. Where did the inspiration for the Disc Golf Box come from?
“You’re absolutely right by saying that the idea of subscription services have been growing tremendously and I think you just answered your own question by saying that it can be found in practically any niche in the world, because that is true except for this Niche! We looked for a subscription based disc golf service and found a few, but they were always limited, either by frequency, lack of disc selection, or something, and we just couldn’t find anything that we thought was right for us. We wanted cool stuff and cool discs, and we didn’t want to pay full retail basically.”
“We started toying with the idea of getting other companies involved to showcase their products and designs as well, and started reaching out to these companies to see if there was any interest and there was high interest, so the next step was to see how disc golfers responded. I posted a few sample pictures of what we would like to offer in one of our boxes on my personal page and within a day or so I had over a dozen messages or comments about where people could order it and sign up etc. and it was at that moment that I knew we were really on to something that was going to be a game changer for the sport.”
Example box from the Disc Golf Box Company.
Give us the basics of the Disc Golf Box Company. There are subscription and one time based models, right? How much do these run and what can people expect each month?
“Sure. The easiest, simplest, and most basic way I can put it is this, ‘Give us the money you’d spend on two discs ($40.00) and we’ll send you two discs and 3-5 pieces of gear, apparel or other cool items from us and other companies based on what you tell us you like.’ That’s the easiest way to put it. We have all of our Tribe Members fill out a Survey that asks about preferred manufacturers, weights, shirt size, and many other questions to create a profile that can be updated and changed as time goes on and skill level changes to truly customize an unboxing experience that is unique to you.”
“We have two one time options with our Ace Pot, and Pro boxes. the Ace Pot includes one discs and a few pieces of gear and goes for $22.99, and The Pro includes 3 Discs with 5-7 pieces of gear for $65.99. The Subscription options are the Flight Box which has 2 discs and a few pieces of swag, and the Classic Box which includes 2 discs and 3-5 pieces of swag. These run for $29.99 and $39.99 respectively.”
“As far as what to expect, we have everything from minis, and zipper pulls to shirts, towels and hats. Plus we are going to do our best to promote a theme in each box like glow gear, lights, and Halloween swag in October box for example, and Holiday cheer around Christmas etc. We’re working with some really great contributors that have awesome styles, the challenge is getting to an agreement that is a win for everybody involved but we are definitely going to be sending some BA designs and apparel from companies you might not have heard of but will definitely be buying from once we introduce you to them.”
You’ve also set it up to where they can receive the box monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly, right? What has been the most popular so far?
“Right, like we were saying earlier, we think that providing frequency options we’ll be able to fit into the budgets of more players. You know if you think about it, a bi monthly subscription to our Classic Box is still only $39.99 each cycle, which is only $20 a month, or $5 a week, or less than a dollar a day, which again we feel most people will be able to afford, plus there are coupon codes floating around all over the internet that give up to 35% off someones first months box which is one heck of a deal!”
“As far as popularity so far it’s been the Classic Monthly that has been the most popular because there are people out there who already spend the money on the gear each month so they see the value in our product/service. Close behind is the Bi-Monthly Flight Box, and then surprisingly, the One Time Pro Box, because, again, I think people just see the value in getting 3 discs and a ton of gear for the same price you would normally pay to get 3 discs by themselves.”
Example box from the Disc Golf Box Company.
About how many companies are you working with each month? How can someone get involved on the vendor side if they want to be involved?
“Right now we have a little over 2 dozen companies that we’re working with and/or are in negotiations with, and we plan on working with 2-5 companies each month. A big interest from our contributors has been a box where they are featured as the main contributor, and we like that idea a lot and think it’s something we’re going to pursue we just have to work out all the details and communicate it properly to all of our contributors.”
“For example, we’ll use our Partners Cherry Bomm LLC. If we can create a box that has a few really awesome pieces of swag specifically from them we can send it out to all of our Subscribers and call it something cool like “Cherry Bomms Away!” or “Bomm Box” or something. We’d like to do that with all of our contributors moving forward, it just takes a lot of planning, but we’ll get to that point over time. Now as far as the contributor side goes, it’s completely free to become a contributor we just ask that you allow us to buy products from you at wholesale rates with no minimum order and/or feel free to donate whatever small slow selling or no selling items you may have like stickers, patches etc. you can reach out to me personally at alex@dgbx.co or just send an email from our Home Page at DGBX.CO”
What kind of feedback have you received from customers?
“That’s a great question, and so far feedback has been extraordinary! And I’m not just saying that! I can literally count on my hands the amount of people that I’ve told about the company/idea that have given a negative or lackluster opinion, and these people are typically not even disc golfers themselves haha! As far as disc golfers go we’ve received nothing but support and great feedback, and questions, and that’s kind of our whole goal is to build a subscriber community where people want to give us their opinion because they know we’re going to listen to them.”
“That’s also part of the customized experience, is listening to each individual and doing our best to give them what they want and ask for and if we can’t then making sure that the lines of communication stay open so that we can take care of them in their next box. I want to say that our customer service and communication has been good, but I would encourage you guys to ask our existing customers or if some of them are reading this, I would ask them to leave an unbiased review in the comments, because their voice is the one that other customers will listen to not ours.”
Finally, how can people get signed up for themselves? Is there a way to gift a subscription?
“You can visit DGBX.CO to get signed up. Click the Link at the top and it’ll take you to our survey, then redirect you to our merchant page once you click submit. From there you choose your plan, create a profile and make a payment. That simple. We mail out all of our boxes once a month and make sure that your package will be at your doorstep on, or before the first full week of the following month. As far as gift subscriptions we absolutely have that option and it’ll give you that choice on the merchant page with a button that says ‘Give as a Gift.’
“Also, I’d like to let people know that starting October 1 we are going to introduce our Christmas Gift Box and will be collecting order until December 5 to make sure you and your loved ones have it in time for the holidays. There will be limited quantities available but we’ll have more details to come in the upcoming weeks. Other than that I’d like to encourage people to like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/dgbxco, and follow us on Twitter @DGBXCO. Thank you guys for the interview, and we look forward to getting some of your gear and swag to our subscribers in the future too!”
Thanks to Morales for giving us the insight into the Disc Golf Box Company. Check them out at DGBX.CO and sign up for your subscription today!
The post The Disc Golf Box Company brings monthly subscriptions to disc golf appeared first on All Things Disc Golf.