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How to sell subscriptions on Shopify: a step-by-step setup guide

By Wes Young · · 11 min read

Shopify can sell subscriptions natively. The checkout, the saved card and the recurring order are all built in. What it doesn't do on its own is decide how often you deliver, what subscribers save, what the product page shows, or what happens when a card fails. Those come from a subscription app and a few choices you make. This guide walks through them in the order you'll meet them, so you go from nothing to a first real subscriber without surprises.

How subscriptions work on Shopify

Three pieces work together:

  • Shopify runs checkout, stores the customer's payment method securely, and keeps a record of each subscription, called a subscription contract.
  • A subscription app creates the plans customers choose from (for example "every month, 10% off"), charges each renewal on schedule, and gives customers a page to manage what they get.
  • Your theme shows the subscribe option on the product page, through a block the app provides.

Because the subscription lives in Shopify, renewals are ordinary Shopify orders. They show up in your orders list, flow to your fulfilment and inventory like any other order, and appear in Shopify's reports. You don't need a separate billing system or a separate customer login.

1. Check your store can sell subscriptions

Do this first. Everything else depends on it.

  • A payment provider that supports subscriptions. Renewals charge a saved card without the customer present, so your provider has to support that. Shopify lists Shopify Payments, PayPal Express, Authorize.net, Adyen and Stripe, with some limits: Stripe is only for select merchants, not every Adyen payment method works, and with Authorize.net, PayPal is the only wallet, so Apple Pay and Google Pay aren't available. If you're on another provider, Shopify won't show subscription options at checkout at all.
  • Payment methods that can be charged again. Cards, Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal generally work. Local and buy-now-pay-later methods like Klarna or iDEAL usually don't, so customers who pick one won't see the subscription.
  • Customer accounts. Subscribers manage their subscription from their account on your store. Most subscription apps now build that page for Shopify's customer accounts, so check under Settings → Customer accounts that you're not on legacy accounts.
  • The right sales channels. Subscriptions work on the online store, Shopify POS, Shop and custom storefronts. They can't be added to draft orders, and a product sold only as a subscription, with no one-time option, can only be sold on the online store.
Gift cards and Scripts only cover the first order. A gift card used at checkout pays for the first payment, not the renewals, and the same goes for Shopify Scripts that discount the price or shipping. If either is a big part of how you sell, plan for it.

2. Choose a subscription app

Shopify has a free app of its own, Shopify Subscriptions, and there are many third-party apps. Shopify's covers the basics: plans with a discount, a product page option, and customers able to skip, pause and cancel. It's a reasonable start if you have a handful of subscribers and simple products.

Where apps differ is in what happens after the first order, which is where most subscription revenue is won or lost. When you compare, look at:

  • What customers can change themselves. Swapping a flavour, adding a product, changing the frequency, moving the next date, updating the address. Every change a customer can make in their account is an email you don't answer, and often a cancellation that doesn't happen.
  • The cancel flow. Can it ask why and offer a fix that matches the reason, like a pause for someone who has too much? There's more on why that matters in how to reduce subscription cancellations.
  • Failed payment recovery. Does it retry declined cards on a schedule, tell the customer, and let you choose what happens when retries run out? A large share of subscription churn is cards, not customers. See how to recover failed subscription payments.
  • Pricing as you grow. Many apps take a percentage of subscription revenue plus a per-order fee. That's cheap at ten subscribers and expensive at a thousand. Work out what each would cost at the size you hope to be in a year.
  • Getting out. Ask whether they'll move your subscribers if you switch later, and how. 48 hours after a subscription app is uninstalled, Shopify cancels every subscription it was running and deletes its plans, so moving is a job to do with care, never by uninstalling first.

Run one subscription app at a time where you can. Two apps can both be installed, which is useful while you move from one to the other, but each keeps its own plans and subscriptions, and customers end up with two places to manage them.

3. Pick your subscription products and frequencies

You don't need to offer a subscription on everything. Start with products customers already buy again: coffee, supplements, pet food, skincare, razors, refills. Your order history tells you which ones. Look for products where the same customers order a second and third time on their own.

Then set delivery frequencies from how long the product actually lasts. If a bag lasts most people about a month, offer every 3, 4 and 6 weeks, not every week through every quarter. Two or three choices around real use is usually right. A frequency that's too short is one of the most common reasons subscribers cancel, because they end up with more than they can use.

Keep the same frequencies across products customers might switch between. If coffee comes every four weeks and the decaf only every month, a customer swapping from one to the other has nowhere to land.

Some stores also offer prepaid plans, where the customer pays for three or six deliveries up front, often at a bigger saving. They're good for cash flow and for gifts, but they're more to explain, so most stores add them once pay-as-you-go is working.

4. Decide the subscriber discount

Most replenishment stores offer 10–15% off every subscription order. Whatever you pick, make it something you can afford on every renewal, for as long as the customer stays, because it comes straight out of your margin. A 15% price cut on a product with a 47% margin is a cut of about a third in what each order earns.

Prefer a steady discount over a large first-order-only offer, which tends to bring in customers who leave once the price goes up. Free shipping for subscribers is often worth more to customers than it costs you. There's a worked example with the margin maths in how much your subscribe-and-save discount should be.

5. Create the subscription plans

In your subscription app, create a plan on each product you chose. A plan usually has:

  • A name customers see, like "Subscribe & save". Keep it short and plain.
  • One or more delivery frequencies, each with an interval (days, weeks or months) and a discount.
  • Which variants it applies to. On a product with sizes or flavours, you may want the plan on the refill size only, not the starter kit.

Shopify calls these selling plans, and they're what the subscription is created from at checkout. Changing a plan later only affects new subscribers. Existing subscriptions keep the price and frequency they signed up with, so you can adjust plans without repricing anyone by accident.

6. Add the subscribe option to your product page

Subscription apps add the choice through an app block in your theme. In Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes → Customize, open a product template, and add the app's block to the product information section, usually just above the add-to-cart button. Most apps only show the block on products with a plan, so it's safe on a template shared with other products.

How the choice looks has a big effect on how many people subscribe:

  • Put the subscription first and selected by default, with one-time purchase clearly one click away.
  • Show the saving as a price: the subscription price beside the regular price, struck through.
  • Say "cancel, skip or change anytime" right next to the choice. Fear of being stuck is the main reason people hesitate.
  • Make the terms clear before they pay: what they'll be charged, how often, and how to cancel. Many US states, California among them, have automatic renewal laws that require it.

Check the page on a phone. Most customers will see it there, and a block that looks tidy on desktop can push add-to-cart below the fold on mobile. For more on getting this right, see how to get more Shopify customers to subscribe.

7. Give subscribers a place to manage their subscription

After checkout, customers need somewhere to see their next order and change it. On Shopify that's a Subscriptions page in their customer account, added by the app. It usually goes in through Settings → Checkout → Customize, the checkout and accounts editor, and then needs a link in your customer account menu. Without the link, customers can't find it, and they'll email you instead, or cancel through their bank.

Decide what customers can change on their own. Changing quantities, moving the next date and updating a card are the essentials. Skipping, pausing, swapping products and changing frequency are where most of the saved cancellations come from. And let customers cancel from the same page. In California and a growing number of other places, a subscription bought online must be cancellable online, and an easy exit makes people more willing to subscribe in the first place.

8. Set up what happens after the first order

Before you launch, set up the three things that run without you:

  • Customer emails. At least a confirmation when they subscribe and a reminder a few days before each renewal. A customer who knows a charge is coming can skip or move it, which beats a surprise charge and a refund request.
  • Failed payment recovery. Retry declined cards a few times over a week or two, and send the customer a link to update their card after the first failure. If you use Shopify Payments, its card auto updater also refreshes many expired cards on its own, mainly in the US.
  • The cancel flow. One question about why, and at most one offer that fits the answer.

9. Place a test order

Buy a subscription product yourself, with the subscribe option selected, using your payment provider's test mode or a real order you refund. Then check each step a customer will meet:

  1. The product page shows the subscribe option, the right frequencies and the right price.
  2. Checkout says it's a recurring purchase and shows the terms.
  3. The order arrives in Shopify, and the subscription appears in your app with the right next billing date.
  4. Signed in as that customer, the Subscriptions page shows it, and you can make a change and cancel.
  5. The emails arrive, and read the way you want them to.

Ten minutes here saves far more than ten minutes of customer emails later.

10. Launch, and tell the customers you already have

Your best first subscribers are customers who already buy from you. Email the ones who've ordered a subscription product more than once, and time it for when they're likely to be running low. A line on order confirmations ("Want this every month for 10% less?") turns repeat buyers into subscribers without any extra spend.

Then watch two numbers for the first couple of months: what share of orders on subscription products choose the subscription, and how many subscribers reach their third order. The first tells you whether the offer works. The second tells you whether you've found customers who'll stay.

Common questions

Does Shopify have subscriptions built in?

The foundations are built in: checkout, saved payment methods and subscription contracts. To create plans and charge renewals you need a subscription app, either Shopify's free Shopify Subscriptions app or a third-party one.

Do I need Shopify Payments to sell subscriptions?

No, but you need a provider that supports them. Shopify lists Shopify Payments, PayPal Express, Authorize.net, Adyen and Stripe (for select merchants). Shopify Payments is the simplest, and it's the one with the card auto updater.

Can I sell a product as subscription only?

Yes. Most apps let a plan be required, with no one-time option. Shopify only allows subscription-only products on the online store, though, and they can't be sold through other channels.

Can customers subscribe with Shop Pay, Apple Pay or PayPal?

Usually, yes. Shopify supports its accelerated checkouts for subscriptions on most providers. The exceptions are local and buy-now-pay-later methods, and Apple Pay and Google Pay on Authorize.net.

How do I move subscriptions from another app?

Install the new app alongside the old one, move the subscriptions across, check they bill correctly, and only then uninstall the old app. 48 hours after an app is uninstalled, Shopify cancels the subscriptions it was running and deletes its plans, so the order matters. Many apps, Vanix included, will do the move for you.

The short version

  1. Check your payment provider, payment methods and customer accounts support subscriptions.
  2. Choose an app on what it does after the first order, and what it'll cost when you've grown.
  3. Start with products customers already reorder, at frequencies that match how long they last.
  4. Pick a discount you can afford on every renewal.
  5. Create a plan on each product.
  6. Add the subscribe option to the product page, first and selected, with the saving as a price.
  7. Add the Subscriptions page to customer accounts, and link it from the menu.
  8. Set up reminder emails, failed payment recovery and a cancel flow before you launch.
  9. Place a test order and walk through it as a customer.
  10. Tell your repeat customers, and track the subscribe rate and how many reach a third order.
Using Vanix? The setup checklist follows these steps. You create plans per product, add the Subscription Selector block and the Subscriptions page, and Home ticks each storefront step off as it's done. Customer rules, the cancellation flow, billing recovery and customer emails cover step 8. Free covers up to 50 active subscriptions, and if you're on another app, we'll move your subscribers for free.

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