Subscription-Driven Brands PrettyLitter, Omaha Steaks, and Stitch Fix on Personalizing Strategies to Meet Evolving Consumer Demands

Small business takeaway:

• As subscription growth slows and consumers scrutinize recurring costs, PrettyLitter, Omaha Steaks, and Stitch Fix show that customer retention now depends on making recurring purchases feel more personal, useful, and worth keeping. PrettyLitter turns cat litter subscriptions into a more tailored loyalty experience by rewarding customers for building cat profiles with health details, Omaha Steaks uses decades of customer data to build flexible food-delivery plans, and Stitch Fix combines AI with human stylists to make personalized shopping feel more relevant and convenient.

Subscription-based businesses have been under pressure as many consumers have looked for ways to cut back on spending amid persistent inflation.

Some companies that offer subscriptions, including PrettyLitter, Omaha Steaks, and Stitch Fix, have responded by giving customers more flexibility in their subscriptions and enhancing the value of a subscription by offering more personalized rewards and services.

Although consumers continue to sign up for subscriptions at a double-digit growth rate, the pace of subscription growth slowed in 2025, falling to 12.6% from 15.4% in 2024, according to the 2026 State of Subscriptions report from subscription solutions provider Recurly.

More than half of consumers (52%) canceled at least one subscription in the past year, most often because they weren’t using it, according to the Recurly report.

“Market saturation, intensified competition and cautious consumer spending are driving this change, signaling a shift from rapid, acquisition-led expansion toward a more disciplined model focused on lifecycle value,” the report concluded.

Many consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands still have an opportunity to capitalize on the subscription model to drive incremental sales, however, said Lisa Bratkovich, Founding Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at CMO Syndicate, in an interview with CO—.

“The gap between what the average brand does with its subscription program and what best-in-class subscription brands do is wide and typically worth millions in revenue and loyalty,” she said. “Those winning today have moved past a ‘set it and forget it’ approach, are pulling every monetization lever, and meeting customers where they actually are with personalized approaches.”

Many companies that started as subscription-only brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, ButcherBox, BarkBox, and Factor, have sought to diversify revenue streams and increase brand awareness by offering their products in retail stores.

While this strategy can help boost revenues, it also compresses margins, relinquishes the customer relationship — and customer data — to the retailer and risks cannibalizing sales from subscribing customers, said Bratkovich.

“Keeping the subscription price the lowest in the market is critical, or the inherent value of the program fades dramatically,” she said. “This is the challenge, because the brand often can’t control the final price a retailer charges at checkout.”

To that end, brands might consider distinguishing their subscription and retail offerings, she suggested, by crafting different product combinations, sizes, or bundled products at retail to minimize the opportunity for “apples-to-apples” price comparison by consumers.

Understanding consumer needs and wants is key to making subscription programs successful, said Bratkovich.

“Getting the initial offer and benefits right needs to be an exercise in consumer psychology and unit economics, not just offering a low 10 to 15% discount,” she said.

For example, brands need to ensure that the shipment frequency matches actual product consumption rates and choices, said Bratkovich, noting that "too much product" is a top reason consumers cancel their CPG subscriptions. Apparently, consumers often end up with more product than they can use before the next delivery arrives.

“Additional levers that retain subscribers and increase their lifetime value include sophisticated save, upsell, cross-sell, and win-back flows [automated marketing messages that seek to recover lapsed customers] and plugging silent revenue leaks like failed payments,” she said. “The brands winning today treat their subscription program not just as discounted recurring orders but as a brand asset, with real benefits, privileges, and exclusivity.”

[Read more: Analog Marketing Platforms Appeal to Tech-Weary Consumers]

PrettyLitter VP: ‘We wanted to reward the behaviors that deepen engagement’

Last year cat litter brand PrettyLitter launched a loyalty program designed to engage consumers with the brand and make subscribing to its regular delivery service a more rewarding experience.

The company, which expanded into retail about five years ago after launching as a subscription-only company, has evolved its subscription model to allow more flexibility, as well as added savings and rewards.

“We aim to create something more than just the standard litter purchase,” said Mathew Seifert, Vice President of CRM and Loyalty at PrettyLitter, in an interview with CO—. “We want to show them that we value them as a customer and also value their cats. We want to make them feel like they’re part of something bigger, that they’re part of this community that cares for cats as much as they do.”

The PrettyLitter VIP loyalty program allows members to earn 10 points for every purchase, which can be redeemed for toys and other products, as well as a free bag of litter.

Consumers are frustrated with loyalty programs that make it difficult to earn enough points to obtain a reward, he said. PrettyLitter sought to address that by offering additional points for simple actions, such as five points each for following on social media, and five points for taking a “cat quiz,” for example.

The VIP loyalty program also seeks to leverage the brand’s positioning around cat health and wellness to boost subscriber engagement. For example, in addition to the cat quiz, subscribers can also earn 10 points by filling out a “cat profile,” which collects relevant health details, such as specific dietary restrictions or needs.

“We wanted to recognize the customer for longevity,” he said. “We wanted to reward the behaviors that deepen engagement and really strengthen the relationship across the brand.”

CMO Syndicate’s Bratkovich, who recently held a discussion with Seifert on the stage of the SubSummit conference in Kansas City, Missouri, said PrettyLitter is disproving industry conceptions that subscriptions and loyalty are one and the same.

“He named what most operators get wrong: They assume their subscription program is already doing the full loyalty job,” she said. “It usually isn’t since it was not designed using best practices and as a brand asset, with real benefits, privileges, and exclusivity.

“PrettyLitter built loyalty on top of an already successful subscription base, and early data shows it paying off in stronger retention and notable community-first brand awareness,” Bratkovich said.

“I think that the subscription really gets you to that first purchase,” Seifert said. “The loyalty just makes it easier for us to earn the second, third, and fourth purchase.”

[Read more: Three Company Founders Disclose How They Discovered Their Niche]

Omaha Steaks CMO: Leveraging 70 years of customer data to enhance subscription-biz convenience

Omaha Steaks leverages the 70-plus years of customer data it has collected as a direct-to-consumer seller to ensure that it is providing the products and services its customers want.

“We have a great ability to know what’s important to our customers,” Eric Johnson, Vice President and Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Omaha Steaks, told CO—. “We have an insights team, and a lot of tech capabilities that we’ve built around that, to make sure that the voice of the customer is at the forefront.”

The company, which was founded in 1917 and began offering mail-order delivery in 1952, launched the subscription business in 2023. It started with a limited offering of its bestsellers, but it has since expanded the model to include most of its assortment, with the flexibility to allow customers to create their own shopping list and delivery schedule.

“The goal is to have our full assortment available — everything from steaks to burgers to seafood,” said Johnson.

Customers want flexibility and control over their orders, he said, and the company strives to incorporate those attributes into all of its offerings, including its subscription business.

For example, customers can select from an increasing variety of delivery frequencies. Currently customers can choose to receive a subscription box every four, six, eight, or 12 weeks, and a two-week option is in the works. Once customers elect a frequency option, it’s easy for them to adjust it or cancel an order, Johnson said.

Likewise, adjusting the product mix of each subscription delivery is also easy, he said. “It is almost like a restaurant menu in a way,” said Johnson.

Omaha Steaks offers subscriptions at three prices — $127.48 for the Signature Plan, $161.49 for the Premium Plan, and $212.49 for the Ultimate Plan. All of the company’s products are assigned a point value, and each plan allows users a specific number of points. For example, the Signature Plan allows subscribers to order items totaling nine points. That could include nine different items pegged at one point each, such as a pack of chicken breasts, burgers, or pork chops, or perhaps three different items pegged at three points each, such as a pack of top sirloin filets or a pack of lemon-dill salmon filets.

“If you decide you don’t really want hot dogs, but you want some more burger, it’s a very easy thing to do,” Johnson said. “Flexibility and convenience were what we consistently heard from our customers, and so we made sure that we built that in there.”

Stitch Fix VP: Tapping both AI-generated images of customers in outfit options and real-time guidance from human stylists to ‘create more ways for them to discover styles they’ll love’

Pioneering clothing-subscription service Stitch Fix is in the midst of a multiyear transformation strategy designed to provide more flexibility for customers and forge more personalized connections.

“Over the last few years, Stitch Fix has been executing our transformation strategy to strengthen our role as our clients’ retailer of choice for apparel, footwear, and accessories,” Noah Zamansky, Vice President of Product, Tech and Design, Client Experience at Stitch Fix, said in an interview with CO—. “As part of that evolution, we’ve reimagined the Stitch Fix experience to better serve clients however they want to shop, creating more ways for them to discover styles they’ll love.”

The online personal styling service is focused on making its retail experience as flexible as possible to meet the needs of its customers, he said.

“Ultimately, creating value for our clients is about giving them more agency, personalization, and choice — helping them discover styles they love on their own terms,” Zamansky said.

He cited a recent initiative called Stitch Fix Vision that has been resonating with its customers. It provides users with personalized, AI-generated imagery of themselves in a variety of shoppable, head-to-toe outfit recommendations based on their unique style profile and current trends. Users of this tool have increased their spending within the Stitch Fix “Freestyle” offering, through which shoppers can purchase individual items without a subscription.

Although the company is investing heavily in AI, it is also seeking to ensure that it maintains a human connection with its customers via the in-house stylists that the company is known for.

“Shopping for clothing is personal and requires the nuance and understanding that our stylists provide every day,” Zamansky said.

The company has recently taken steps to facilitate interaction between its users and its stylists through the Stylist Connect platform, which enables near-real-time communication.

“We’ve found that clients who engage with the same stylist tend to shop with us more frequently, and those who use Stylist Connect are significantly more likely to request that same stylist for their next Fix,” said Zamansky, referring to the company’s term for a purchase from the retailer.

Stitch Fix remains focused on providing the most personalized service that it can, he said.

“We’re uniquely positioned to do this because of the depth of our data and how we’ve integrated AI across the business,” said Zamansky. That’s because “before a client even receives their first Fix, we already understand their style, fit and budget, and we get smarter with every interaction.

“As shopping today continues to evolve, we believe the future is about flexibility, personalization, and building experiences that fit seamlessly into people’s lives,” he said.

[Read more: How Stitch Fix Is Optimizing Its Human Stylists in the Age of AI]

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