Memebox Is No Longer in Business Kind Of
You likely heard already that Memebox is no longer in business. Well, they kind of went out of business but not really? It’s a little bit of a confusing situation right now but here’s how things are going down at Memebox.
Memebox launched stateside back in 2014, it was actually incubated in Y Combinator which is pretty uncommon for a seed company that typically grooms tech start ups (and the occasional smoothie maker). CEO, Dino Ha has said that some US customers have spent more than $10,000 on the Memebox site in a six month period. Gasp! If you aren’t in the known Memebox would launch themed beauty boxes which would range from $19.99 to $39.99 and include six to twelve full-size Korean beauty picks from skincare to makeup and more. K-Beauty is a huge business at the moment here in the US but Memebox is somewhat of a pioneer in the area and gathered quite the cult following. There was a certain pokemon mentality when it came to snatching up the latest beauty boxes from Memebox plus there was no monthly commitment. It wasn’t a monthly service and it allowed you to choose which boxes you wanted to purchase unlike competitors such as Birchbox. Memebox also offered a variety of skincare and makeup purchases as individual purchases. It was pretty much a great go to spot for Korean Beauty.
During the Holidays, Memebox started clearancing out a lot of their items and in March we were alerted that the company would be redesigning their current business model. So, technically Memebox isn’t out of business completely but they have now redesigned their website and hope to become your source for K-Beauty in a different way. What way is that? The site now offers reviews, ingredients lists, how to use products, and where to buy them. Where to buy them you ask? Well, this is where things get tricky as Memebox is using affiliate links to point you over to Amazon which in turns gets them a small commission off the purchase you make. Technically, you really don’t need Memebox to shop Amazon and this is where things get a little fuzzy!
Depending how you feel about Memebox you might wish to purchase products via their affiliate links and support them in their growth to become a source for K-Beauty reviews. However, personally, Memebox is a bit de-funked for me. I can easily locate K-Beauty products elsewhere or shop Amazon myself without the help of Memebox’s links (remember, you aren’t purchasing these items from them but secondary sellers). Their reviews are unbiased ones from customers but most are short and not detailed. So, depending how you like your reviews this might be great or not so great depending how much detail you want about a product reviews (I personally like a good deal of info and not two sentences saying, “This is great! Buy it now!”). One key point of their site is they do have a helpful section which shows you how to use products. This can be priceless as many Korean skincare products don’t have instructions and ingredients in English. I found this portion of the site very helpful!
So, sadly Memebox is out of the Korean beauty business sales portion but they are still around and active as a source of information and reviews for your favorite K-Beauty brands.
How do you feel about the new Memebox?
Do share your thoughts!