Subscribe or perish

Kit Winder | 14 July 2020 Subscribe or be left behind Dear Reader,   Twenty years ago, subscriptions were for magazines and papers, and… well, that was more or less it. In 2020, though, subscription-based businesses are everywhere.   Now, companies like dollar shave club sell subscription razors…   Spotify sells subscription music…   Microsoft Office packages do the same…   And one of my colleagues – obsessed to the point of madness with music gear – gleefully likes to talk about how he can now afford ridiculously expensive studio software because (you guessed it), he can pay on a monthly subscription.   Companies doubtless love the idea of consistent, regular income versus having to sell single purchases over and over again.   Unsurprising, then, that many subscription-based companies are regularly found in recommendations all over the mainstream press. (Whether the companies themselves are profitable or not.)   I think it’s fair to say that the more technology expands and develops, the more subscription businesses are likely to pop-up.   But here’s the thing I think it’s worth thinking more about:   The technology that makes our digitally subscribed world possible.   Because that infrastructure must be built by someone. And if you can find the right builder, at the right stock price…   I hope I don’t need to explain why that opportunity could be huge.   And one of my colleagues believes he’s already made that discovery.   Best,   Kit Winder  Editor, Southbank Investment Research

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