Subscription Economy News: Week of 02/17/2020

Every week, we bring you the top stories and analyses from the global Subscription Economy.

Nissan jumps into car subscription segment with Switch program

Excerpts from an article by Sean Szymkowski on Road Show

Nissan on Wednesday announced its Nissan Switch car subscription program, and like other rival programs, it covers all the bases for typical vehicle ownership. For a $699 monthly fee, subscribers will gain access to a core group of Nissan vehicles via the Select tier: the Altima, Rogue, Pathfinder and Frontier. The charge also includes insurance, delivery, cleaning, roadside assistance and regular maintenance.

But, Nissan is going a step further than some others in a big way. Subscribers can swap out of cars as often as they want. Yes, it’s absolutely possible to grab a new car every single day. That’s not the case with other rival programs from Volvo or even Porsche.

For more, read the full article on Road Show and learn how Zuora helps auto companies succeed with subscriptions. 

The Information is testing a subscription bundle with Bloomberg Media

Excerpts from an article by Kayleigh Barber on DigiDay

The Information and Bloomberg Media are the next set of publishers to test out a digital subscription bundling model.

The two publishers have come together to offer a $499 one-year subscription to both Bloomberg.com and TheInformation.com, which will allow readers to access all paywalled content, as well as provide access to The Information’s new app, monthly video calls, events and a subscriber-only Slack channel, and Bloomberg’s subscriber newsletters, Bloomberg TV live streams and podcast.

The Information is currently priced at $399 for an annual subscription and Bloomberg’s digital subscription product costs $415 for one year. With the bundle — priced at $499 — subscribers will save $315. Those who already subscribe to The Information on a monthly basis are able to upgrade their subscriptions to include Bloomberg, with that capability coming later for annual subscribers.

For more, read the full article on DigiDay and learn how Zuora helps publishers like The Guardian and The Seattle Times succeed with subscriptions

Rental e-tailer Feather raises $30M in funding

Excerpts from an article by Anne Flynn Wear on Furniture Today

Feather, a rental furniture e-commerce company, has closed a $30 million Series B funding round led by Cobalt Capital.

This new funding brings Feather’s total equity funding to $46 million after the company raised $12 million in additional capital last May. Feather will use the new funding to scale the company’s proprietary reverse logistics infrastructure, expand into new markets, and double the company’s current headcount.

“Feather is a revolutionary furniture solution changing the way people outfit their homes,” said Dan Abrams, Cobalt Capital partner. “We’re thrilled to support Jay (Reno, Feather CEO) and help the team build this next-generation furniture offering by leveraging our experience scaling consumer and digital content companies.”

For more, read the full article on Fur

Patreon will now give creators cash advances on their subscription money

Excerpts from an article by Bijan Stephenon The Verge

Patreon, the site creators love because it helps them make money off their work, has started a program called Patreon Capital, which grants micro-loans to creators. It’s essentially a cash advance: you get money now in exchange for some of your future earnings plus a small premium. It’s different from Patreon’s usual business — which is enabling direct subscriptions to people whose work you like, then taking a cut off the top — but it will diversify the company’s revenue, which should make Patreon a more sustainable business.

As Nick Quah’s newsletter Hot Pod reports:

[G]iven their history and positioning as a creator support platform, Patreon believes they’re in a better position than banks to provide creators with the business support they need. “After all, Patreon has access to all the data about a creator’s earnings history, what they offer as benefits, how much they engage with their patrons…everything needed to forecast their earnings and retention, without a creator even needing to submit an application,” said Carlos Cabrero, the company’s VP of Finance. “This would be essentially impossible for a bank to replicate.”

A Patreon creator’s historical performance — as far as subscribers and revenue go — is definitely more transparent than a credit report. And as Quah astutely notes, the program is modeled after other, similar offerings from Shopify and Stripe.

For more, read the full article on The Verge

For more Subscription Economy resources and events, head to www.subscribed.com

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