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You can't create subscription products in Shopify
Subscription products, or so-called "regular delivery" type products, cannot be set up or sold on Shopify.
However, this is "by default".
To sell subscriptions on Shopify, you will need to install an app. In other words, you can use the subscription feature on Shopify just by installing the app.
There are several subscription apps available in the Shopify app store, but today we'll use " Bold Subscriptions " as an example to show you how to implement it.
Basic information about Bold Subscriptions
- App name: Bold Subscriptions
- Price: $19.99/month ( 60-day free trial available )
- Supported languages: English (content displayed on the site can be translated into Japanese)
Thankfully, there is a long trial period of about two months, so you can take your time to thoroughly examine the settings and functions.
You will not be charged upon installation, but you will need to be logged in as an account owner with payment authority to start the trial. After the 60-day trial period, you will be automatically charged.
Notes on installing to Liquid
Once the app installation is complete, this screen (Liquid installation screen) will be displayed. Normally, you would select the blue "START AUTOMATIC INSTALL" button, but you need to take note of the following points and make the following preparations.
- Make a backup of the published theme (make a copy)
- Select an unpublished theme as the installation destination (you can select it after clicking the button)
- Some themes may not be installed.
Some apps will install into a published theme without asking any questions, but with this app you don't have to worry about that. When you click the "START AUTOMATIC INSTALL" button, a screen will appear asking you to select which theme you want to install into. However, it is safer to avoid selecting a published theme. Because "AUTO" modifies the liquid, if this installation causes a problem on your site, it will be difficult to restore it to its original state. Therefore, we recommend duplicating a published theme and installing into the duplicated theme . (Further settings and checks should also be performed in the duplicated theme.)
Depending on the type of theme and the customizations you have made to the theme, the installation may stop midway. In that case, you will need to install it manually (manually modify or add Liquid).
Initial setup of subscription app "Bold"
Once you've installed Liquid, the next step is to set it up to sell subscription products.
Bold Dashboard
The Dashboard screen displays the main settings, but here we will focus on the settings that you need to set in order to make regular subscriptions.
Payment Setting
You may wonder why this setting exists when you already have payment settings configured on your Shopify store.
When selling through the Bold app, you cannot use the payment method that you have set up on the store side as it is . This is because payments through the Bold app are not made on Shopify, but on Bold's servers (the pages transition naturally with redirects, so there is no discomfort or confusion in the purchase flow). Therefore, you will need to register the payment method for regular purchases again, as you have set it up on the store side.
However, if you are running a Shopify site for Japan, many stores will have contracts with Stripe, so there will be no problem if you set it up to use Stripe here.
When you click the "Connect to Stripe" button, the Stripe login screen will appear. Depending on the status of your store, you may be able to complete the connection simply by logging in, or you may be required to enter the required information.
*If you have not signed a contract with Stripe, you will need to submit documents.
Subscription Groups (Registering and changing settings for regular products)
Next, we'll set up the subscription products that we want to sell. At this point, nothing has been registered, so click the "Create Subscription Groups" button to create a new subscription product.
You will be redirected to the detailed settings screen for the subscription item.
After giving this product a name, choose one of three "Subscription Type" patterns.
- Standard : A type that simply sells a specified product on a regular basis.
- Covertible : A type that sells a specific product together with a regular product for the first time only.
- Build a Box : A type where you choose your favorite product from a selection of products.
There is nothing in particular to explain about "Standard," so I will explain the somewhat confusing "Convertible" and "Build a Box" using concrete examples.
One example of how "Convertible" could be used is in a coffee store where they could say, "You can purchase coffee beans on a regular basis. Those who sign up will receive a dripper at a special price!"
"Build a Box" is based on the premise that the store has multiple products in the same price range. It is also used in stores that provide food delivery services such as food ingredients and bento boxes. For example, in a store that sells a lot of retort foods, it could be used in a scenario where customers choose five items of their choice each month from ten items priced at 200 yen each.
From here on, we will explain the rest of this article (from Step 2 onwards) assuming you have selected the "Standard" type, which is the most commonly used type.
In Step 2, select the products you want to sell on a regular basis from the products registered in your store. When you press the "Select products" button, a list of registered products will be displayed, and you can select them by pressing the "Add" button. You can also select multiple products.
If you check "Allow Swapping Products", when multiple products are selected, the buyer will be able to switch between the products that are sent on a regular basis. The advantage of this setting is that after a subscription is signed, the buyer can switch to another product and continue the contract without canceling the contract.
In Step 3, you can set the delivery interval, whether the product is available for subscription only or whether it can be sold alongside one-time purchases, whether to set an end date for subscriptions, and whether to set a minimum duration for subscriptions.
The delivery interval can be set to a time of the buyer's choosing, or to be sent at a time specified by the store. Each can be set by day, week, month, or year, and if the buyer can choose, a range of intervals can be specified. (If you select "Month" and enter "6", you will be able to choose a delivery interval of 1 to 6 months.)
The choice of whether to offer it as a subscription only or to sell it one-time will depend on your store's strategy and how you want to present it. For example, if there is a clear advantage to purchasing it as a subscription rather than a one-time purchase, it would be better to offer it as a one-time purchase since the discount will be displayed.
The remaining two settings are not particularly difficult, so I will not explain them here.
Step 4 is setting the discount. There are three types of discounts that can be set:
- No Discount: No discount
- Offer the same discount on all orders: Set a fixed discount rate
- Offer different discounts on initial and recurring orders: Set two discount rates depending on the period.
The third setting is the one that requires explanation, but it's not that difficult. For example, you can use this to give a 50% discount for the first purchase, and a 10% discount or no discount for subsequent purchases.
Once you have completed the settings, click the "Save" button. After this, wait for the changes to be reflected on the site (about 10 seconds), and then check the product page you selected in Step 2. The subscription product should be displayed. (Preview the theme with Liquid installed.)
Japanese localization settings
Returning to the dashboard, you can translate each page and each display item from "Language Settings". There are quite a lot of items, and it can be difficult to understand at first glance which item is displayed where, so you will probably have to work while looking at the purchase flow and the management screen for regular products after purchase.
Please note that for some reason, the text on the cart screen is not set here. If you want to change the text on the cart screen, you will need to edit bold-cart-item.liquid in snippets directly.
If you want to change the appearance, you can customize it in "Display Settings." In particular, the setting to load any CSS onto the checkout page, which cannot be edited directly, seems essential for Japanese specifications.
Once you have gone through all the settings up to this point, you should be able to publish your store. There are also other settings for emails that can be sent at various times and coupon settings, so try configuring them as necessary for your store. I will explain these and provide more in-depth customization methods in another article.
*This article is current as of December 2018. Due to future app updates or changes to Shopify specifications, it may not be possible to set up exactly as described in this article.
