The recent shift in consumer spending habits has led to a rise in eCommerce subscriptions. Whether it be for razor blades or magazines, people love a good subscription box!
In 2020, eCommerce subscription sales crossed over $23 billion in the US. By 2023, eCommerce subscription is expected to produce over $38 billion in revenue. Last year, 15% of online shoppers subscribed to at least one eCommerce subscription service. More than 50% of eCommerce service subscribers claim to have more than one active subscription.
According to Shopify, the overall revenue from Subscription Solutions has increased by 10% from 2021, making it $366.4 million in 2022. It shows how much of Subscription demand has increased over the years.
Subscription models aren't a new thing, they've been around for decades. the option to subscribe and automatically receive product shipments at regular intervals is widely spread in areas such as food, clothing, medical supplies, and other shopping sectors. The customer makes an option that he/she desires to continue a continuous service and obtain specific products on a recurring schedule.
However, it has only recently noticed a great boom in the eCommerce sphere. Businesses that offer ease of shopping in a recurring way promise consistent revenue to the brand and promised brand loyalty.
Do you run an eCommerce store using subscriptions? Or maybe you're just getting ready to launch your first subscription program! There's a lot to it, and it can definitely get confusing when there are so many moving parts involved like recurring billing.
And that’s why we need powerful tools like Shopify Recharge.
The Recharge app provides a simple and effective solution to collect recurring payments on Shopify stores. It is an affordable solution that lets you sell subscriptions, memberships, and auto-renewing memberships. In this article, we will explore more about what is Shopify Recharge, its pros, cons, and more!
I. What Is Shopify Recharge?
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions is an app that allows you to sell subscriptions.
The Shopify Recharge Subscriptions app will make it easy to sell monthly and yearly subscriptions using the same interface as your existing store. This means that you don’t need to create a separate store or manage multiple stores if you want to offer subscriptions. You can also use this app alongside any other apps that you have installed on your store. It also provides you with detailed analytics to keep track of how your subscribers engage with their subscriptions.
01. Pricing
Shopify Recharge app offers 3 plans -
Standard Plan
The Standard Plan is free to install and supports functionalities like -
- Subscription Billing
- Order Management
- Merchant Tools
- Payment Management
- Basic Analytics
Additionally, you will be charged 1% + 10¢ per transaction.
Pro Plan
The Pro Plan costs $300/ month. It includes everything in the Standard Plan. In addition, it provides -
- Enhanced customizable Customer Portal
- Advanced Merchant Tools like Custom checkout domain and Google Tag Manager
- Enhanced Analytics with Revenue KPIs, Customer cohort, Product SKU, etc.
Additionally, you will be charged 1% + 19¢ per transaction.
Custom Plan
You can design a service package that is best for your Shopify store so you can grow your subscription business effortlessly.
02. Rating on Shopify App Store
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions is one of the most popular apps in the Shopify App Store. It has more than 15,000 active installations and has a stellar overall app rating of 4.8. Users report that this app is easy to use and that it works as advertised.
03. How it works
The app includes all the necessary tools to manage subscriptions in your store. You can set up recharges for existing subscriptions and add them to new ones. All you need to do is enter the amount that will be charged every time a customer buys a subscription. This can be done manually or automatically using Stripe or PayPal as your gateway service.
You’ll also have access to reports with all the stats about your subscribers and their purchases, including the number of times they’ve recharged their subscription and how much money this has generated for you so far.
04. Why do merchants use it
While there are many different ways to sell subscriptions, Shopify Recharge Subscriptions offers several benefits compared to other options -
- Easy setup
- Add multiple product groups
- Manage customers with ease
- Flexible billing options
- Automate your customer experience
You don't need any coding skills or technical knowledge; it only takes five minutes to get started. And it's free to use! Merchants can also manage all their subscription products in one place and track the health of their business at a glance.
The one thing that almost all their customers emphasize is their excellent customer support.
Here are some of their most popular clients -
II. Shopify Recharge App Reviews
Subscriptions may not be right for every business, but Shopify's Recharge Subscriptions app allows you to capture recurring revenue without building or maintaining the backend. If your business requires this kind of recurring revenue then Shopify could help you grow.
The appeal of a subscription app is significant. For instance, it allows Shopify merchants to easily manage their customers' subscriptions and the products that they need to be delivered based on reoccurring billing periods. With this app, Shopify merchants can decide whether they want to charge customers upfront for their subscriptions or if they want to accept recurring payments from their subscribers.
The Shopify Recharge Subscriptions app comes along with a set of features that directly benefit both the merchant and their customer despite the fact that it might take some time for a merchant to see the full scope of its benefits.
01. Features
The app comes with some amazing features that will help you to boost your revenues in a cost-effective manner. Here are some of the benefits of using this app -
Easy setup
The Shopify Recharge Subscriptions app is easy to use and can be installed quickly without any coding knowledge. It also comes with an in-built template that allows you to create your own subscription plan easily.
- Start selling subscriptions with Shopify Payments in no time
- Powerful APIs to scale your subscription business
The beautiful interface will be a huge benefit for smaller shops that want to offer subscription packages but don't have the time, resources, or skills to build their own. Create subscriptions in minutes by filling out a few fields on a simple form. Or export subscription data from an existing app and import it into Recharge Subscriptions
Integrates with top commerce tools like Klaviyo, Avalara, and more
Shopify Recharge integrates with over 30 of the leading apps you possibly already use, not only making it easy to automate your Shopify store, but also giving you the ability to take advantage of powerful features like abandoned cart emails and promotional codes.
Flexible features
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions app offers various types of subscription plans such as monthly, yearly, quarterly, bi-annual, etc. You can also set up different pricing structures for each plan and customize it according to your needs.
For instance, with Shopify Recharge, you can -
- Use the built-in "Buy Now" and "Subscribe Now" buttons to connect with your Shopify store, or use the API to create your own checkout experience
- Configure each subscription with a unique name, product name, price, and quantity
Reduce churn & increase LTV
Seamlessly increase your customer lifetime value and engagement by creating a better subscription experience for shoppers while boosting your revenue. Reduce churn with automated emailing tools, SMS notifications, and reminders. The app also provides an easy way to manage cancellations and refunds.
Here’s how Shopify Recharge takes it a notch higher. With this app, you can -
- Allow customers to skip or reschedule deliveries
- Let customers easily swap products
- Improve payment conversions with automatic retries and dinning
- Let customers manage their own subscriptions using the customer portal
- Boost your AOV by adding one-time products
Payment gateway integration
This plugin integrates seamlessly with all major payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, etc. so you don’t have to worry about additional costs or transaction fees when accepting payments through this platform.
Customer management
You can manage all of your customers in one place with the customer management system. This feature allows you to see all of their information, including payment history and their purchase history so that you can better understand what they're looking for when they come back to shop again. You can then leverage this data to win customer loyalty.
Measure business performance
The app's dashboard lets your business gain actionable insights, including sales, subscriptions, and revenue. Get insight into the health of your subscription business and better understand what works, what doesn't, and why.
You can also track subscriber growth by keeping tabs on the number of subscribers, revenue per subscriber, and new subscribers over time. With these detailed insights, you can understand your customers like never before!
Friction-free checkout
Most recurring billing apps are not native to Shopify checkout. This means that when a customer wants to cancel their subscription, they have to go to another app and find a way to contact the company. In some cases, customers might never even find out how to cancel as it's not obvious.
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions is a native app and features friction-free checkout so customers can easily manage their subscriptions directly from their Shopify store.
The app also supports mobile checkout with an excellent user experience which boosts customer engagement.
Add custom CSS
Add custom CSS through the Custom CSS tab of the app settings page so that your checkout matches your theme perfectly.
Great customer support
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions has great customer support which is available 24/7. You can contact them via live chat, email, or phone call. The team is always ready to provide you with their help and answer any questions you may have about the app.
Emails, Discounts & Coupons
The app also supports some neat features such as creating a welcome email for all new customers, or an e-mail with a product discount code specifically for a happy customer who just completed their subscription. Offer personalized discounts on your subscription plan to increase sales.
02. Okay, but does it have any negatives at all?
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions app is undoubtedly a very popular app that lets you set up subscriptions to charge customers automatically. This is an excellent way to monetize your store and grow your business.
However, it’s not without its shortcomings. One of the biggest issues with this app is the speed at which it works.
Shopify Recharge Subscriptions can be slow at times, especially when it comes to processing refunds and canceling old subscriptions. This can cause issues if you're trying to process a large number of payments at once. If you have a large subscriber base and want to add or remove subscribers easily, then this might not be the right tool for your business.
03. Other competitors in this field
Let us take a look at how Recharge Subscriptions fares when compared to its top competitors. The major players in this domain include:
- PayWhirl
- Bold
- Appstle
- Seal
Let us take a closer look at the features offered by these apps in comparison to Shopify Recharge -
| Features | Recharge | PayWhirl | Bold | Appstle | Seal |
| Starting plan | Free | Free | $49.99/month | Free | Free |
| Discount customization | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Customer subscription link | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Advanced reporting | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Tax management | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Subscription product price update | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| SMS notifications | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Email notifications | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bulk actions | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Add one-time products to cart | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| SKU swapping | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Create subscription from backend | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
III. Wrapping Up
Subscription-based eCommerce is a tricky business. Unlike a regular product, which ends up being sold at a single price to each consumer, subscriptions can be priced and sold multiple ways. Shopify Recharge Subscriptions is an application that makes those intricacies much easier to deal with.
Also read: How to Start a Shopify Subscription Box Business
Shopify's Recharge Subscriptions app takes the headaches out of setting up a subscription-based eCommerce business. Rather than having to handle subscriptions manually, Shopify handles all of the customer management, thorough collection of customer data (if wanted), recurring billing, and much more.
The app is simple to install, especially if you're familiar with Shopify products. If you are not, the online documentation is excellent. Overall, this app represents a game-changing way for subscription-based businesses to operate with greater ease and efficiency while helping you win customer loyalty effortlessly.
In summary, the Shopify Recharge Subscriptions is one of the best ways to handle your subscription business and boost brand loyalty. It's simple and user-friendly for even the most non-techy of individuals, plus it looks great as well. Put that tandem together with a host of great features and generous support, and you've got yourself a winner.
