The monthly subscription business model that was once the sole territory of print has been reborn on the Web. Greg Shugar, a lawyer, hated tie-shopping, so in 2004 he started a Web site called the Tie
Bar, which evolved into a Tie-of-the-Month Club service. For $200 per year, customers who sign up at www.thetiebar.com receive a silk tie each month. The service now has more than 150 subscribers,
more than a dozen of which are in their second year. The company designs the ties and manufactures them in China.
For small businesses, monthly services are a great way to keep
costs low. They can be add-ons to an existing business model or a primary means of sales. For many, the Web has erased the trouble of owning and operating a brick-and-mortar store.
Monthly subscriptions are a more efficient way of selling goods. Merchants can count on a certain amount of revenue each month, but they also have better control over inventory. They know ahead of
time how much material to purchase each month. Club-of-the-month models also let merchants zero-in on certain types of goods to sell rather than offering a wide array of different items. In most
cases, the seller picks the item to send to the client.
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