Tell us the name of your company and briefly describe your business and product.

BAMBOO Club: delivering subscription bamboo toothbrushes for adults and children directly through your letterbox to discourage the use of single use plastic.

What inspired you to start your business?

Plastic is currently a very hot topic across the globe as people increasingly look to switch to alternatives. David Attenborough gave a speech last year at Glastonbury praising the festival for banning single use plastic water bottles. As the market for sustainable and eco-friendly products grows, plastic toothbrushes will soon have the same reputation as plastic straws.

And so... Bamboo Club was born!

Every business is on a mission. What is your mission as it relates to Bamboo?

We are on a mission to combat the use of plastic disposable toothbrushes. With 2.6 billion (yes that’s billion with a ‘B’) plastic toothbrushes being purchased each year, all taking 400 years to decompose, we thought we better start making a dent in the plastic crisis. Bamboo is 100% biodegradable, has many positive qualities and is in fact, something not known to many, a renewable resource growing up to 3 metres in 24 hours!

What accomplishment are you most proud of so far?

It was a 'pinch me' moment when we hit our 100th subscriber in a very short period of time after we launched, especially due to the fact that we hadn’t really tested any other marketing channels outside of Instagram.

How did you get your first customers and how long did it take?

Using Subbly and the tools that the platform offers, we were able to set up a pre-subscription. This enabled us to get our first 30 customers before even launching! We ran all our marketing efforts exclusively through Instagram, running a promotion of 50% for all pre-subscribers which proved a great success for us.

Why is it necessary for you to have a subscription billing model and not just one-time purchases?

Dentists recommend that you should change your toothbrush every 8 weeks, however not many people do. We want to make it as convenient for the customer as possible, hence a subscription service made sense. Dental products are perfect for a subscription business model because they need to be replenished for best use.

What made you decide on Subbly to support your business instead of something else?

The Subbly platform has an interface which is super user friendly and fab to look at. We were able to fully customise the platform to allow our customer the best checkout experience.

What is your advice for someone who is just starting a subscription business?

You will need to decide how regularly the consumer will want to buy your product and not how regularly you will want to sell it to them, if you send them something too often they will simply cancel. It’s about getting the perfect balance.