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How much should your subscribe-and-save discount be?

By Wes Young · October 2, 2026 · 5 min read

Your subscribe-and-save discount has two jobs that pull in opposite directions. It has to be big enough that customers choose the subscription, and small enough that you can afford it on every order, for as long as they stay. Most stores pick a number because it's what everyone else uses. Here's how to pick one on purpose.

What's common

For replenishment products like coffee, supplements, pet food and skincare, most Shopify stores offer somewhere between 10% and 15% off. Amazon's Subscribe & Save, which has shaped what shoppers expect, starts at 5% and rises to 15% when five or more subscriptions arrive together.

That range is a sensible place to start, but it's not an answer. A store with 75% gross margins and one with 35% can't afford the same discount, and the right number for you depends on what each order actually earns.

Do the maths on one order

Take a product that sells for $30. Say it costs you $9 to make, $6 to pack and ship, and about 3% in payment fees. A one-time order earns you $14.10 after those costs. Here's what the same order earns at different subscription discounts:

The thing to notice is that the discount comes entirely out of your margin, not your price. A 15% discount on the price is a 31% cut in what the order earns. At 25%, you're earning less than half.

The last column is the real test. At 15% off, a subscriber needs to place about one and a half orders for every one a one-time buyer would have placed, just to break even. For most replenishment products that's an easy bar, since a subscriber who stays six months places six orders, while plenty of one-time buyers never come back at all. At 25% the bar is twice as high, and you're far more exposed if subscribers leave early.

Put your own numbers into the same sum. If your margins are thin, the table will tell you quickly that 20% isn't an option.

Big enough to notice

The other side is whether the discount moves anyone. Below about 10%, the saving on a typical order is small enough that many customers won't think it's worth committing for. "Save $1.50" doesn't feel like a reason.

How you show it matters as much as the size. Show the subscription price beside the one-time price, with the regular price struck through, so the saving is a number they can see rather than a percentage they have to work out. There's more on presenting it in how to get more Shopify customers to subscribe.

Be careful with first-order-only discounts

A popular shortcut is a big discount on the first order only, like 30% off your first box, then full price. It brings in subscribers quickly. It also brings in the customers who were there for the deal, and many of them leave as soon as the price goes up. The cancellation you see after order two was decided by the offer that brought them in.

A steady discount on every order tends to attract customers who want the product regularly, which is who a subscription is for. If you do want a stronger first-order hook, keep the ongoing discount meaningful too, so the second order doesn't feel like a price rise.

Reasons to subscribe besides the discount

A discount isn't the only thing that makes a subscription worth it, and some perks cost you less than they're worth to the customer:

• Free shipping on subscription orders. If one-time orders pay for shipping, waiving it for subscribers can feel bigger to customers than the same amount off the price.
• A small gift on the third or sixth order, which rewards staying rather than starting.
• Price protection. When you raise prices, existing subscribers keep theirs. In Shopify, existing subscriptions keep the price they were sold at even when you change a plan's discount, so this is often true already. It's just worth saying.
• Convenience. Never running out is the real reason many people subscribe. Say it on the product page.

A modest discount plus one or two of these often does better than a large discount alone, and costs less.

Consider different discounts for different plans

You don't have to offer the same discount on every frequency or product. A few patterns worth considering:

• Bigger packs, bigger discount. A larger pack ships less often, which saves you fulfilment costs you can share with the customer.
• A higher discount on your highest-margin products, where you can afford it, to lead customers there.
• Keep frequencies you want to encourage at the best rate. If most customers use a bag every month, make monthly the obvious choice.

Change it carefully, and measure

The right discount is the one that earns you the most over a subscriber's lifetime, not the one with the highest subscribe rate. To find it, change one product's discount, give it a few weeks, and compare the subscribe rate, how many subscribers reach their third order, and what those orders earned.

Two things make this safer than it sounds. Changing a plan's discount only affects new subscriptions, so you won't accidentally reprice the subscribers you already have. And a discount you hold back from the headline offer is still useful elsewhere: a short-term discount for a customer who says it's too expensive as they go to cancel is a much cheaper place to spend it. See how to reduce subscription cancellations.

The short version

1. Start around 10–15% for replenishment products.
2. Work out what an order earns at each discount. The discount comes out of margin, not price.
3. Check how many more orders a subscriber needs to place to make it pay. Under 1.5 is comfortable.
4. Show the saving as a price, beside the one-time price.
5. Prefer a steady discount over a big first-order-only one.
6. Add perks like free shipping or price protection, which cost less than they're worth.
7. Test one product at a time, and judge by lifetime earnings, not subscribe rate.

Sources

• Amazon, Subscribe & Save help page, on its 5% and 15% tiers.
• The margin table is a worked example with illustrative costs. Use your own product cost, fulfilment cost and payment fees.