Setting up Shopify Subscriptions

Early access

Shopify Subscriptions is in early access and is only available to certain merchants.

After you set up subscription plans, your customers can make scheduled purchases on a recurring basis. You can manage all of your subscription plans and contracts within the Shopify Subscriptions app, and then display your subscription plans on your online store. The app also adds a new subscription policy and subscription email notifications to your store.

Eligibility requirements

To use Shopify Subscriptions, your store must meet the following requirements:

• You don't have a third-party subscription app active on your store.
• Subscription products are only supported on the Online Store and Custom Storefront sales channels.
• You must use one of the following themes:
  • Any Online Store 2.0 theme by Shopify
  • Debut on version 15.0 or later
  • Brooklyn on version 17.0 or later

Learn more about theme versions.

• You must use one of the following payment gateways:
  • Shopify Payments
  • PayPal Express
  • Authorize.net
  • Stripe

Payment gateway availability varies by region and terms of service.

Additional considerations

• New customer accounts must be activated for customers to be able to manage their own subscriptions.
• Customers can use accelerated checkouts, such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal, to purchase subscriptions.
• Customers can't use local payment methods such as Klarna, mollie iDEAL, and Sofort, to purchase subscriptions.
• You can use shipping and delivery options to deliver subscription orders, including local delivery and local pickup.

Staff permissions

Store owners can grant access to the Shopify Subscriptions app for their staff by managing staff permissions.

Create a subscription plan

You can create a subscription plan from the Shopify Subscriptions app or from the product page in the Shopify admin. Creating a subscription plan allows your customers to purchase products on a recurring basis within a single checkout experience.

Create a subscription plan in the Shopify Subscriptions app

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Subscriptions > Plans.
2. Click Create new plan.
3. Give the plan a title, and a purchase option title.
4. Select the products that you want to include in the subscription plan.
5. Optional: If you want to offer a discount, then check Offer discount, and select a discount type. Enter the discount amount in the applicable discount field.
6. Under Delivery frequency, enter a number, and then select either a weekly, monthly, or yearly frequency from the drop-down menu.
7. Optional: If you want to add additional delivery frequency and discount options for customers, then click Add option.
8. Click Save.

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Create a subscription plan from the product page

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
2. Select the product that you want to create a subscription plan for.
3. Under Purchase options, click Add purchase option, and then click Create new option.
4. Give the plan a title, and a purchase option title.
5. Optional: If you want to offer a discount, then check Offer discount, and select a discount type. Enter the discount amount in the applicable discount field.
6. Under Delivery frequency, enter a number and select either a weekly, monthly, or yearly frequency from the drop-down menu.
7. Optional: If you want to add additional delivery frequency and discount options for customers, then click Add option.
8. Click Save.

Display subscriptions on your online store

After you set up a subscription plan, you can add a subscription widget to your product page. Subscription details display on the product, cart, and thank you pages.

Online Store 2.0 themes

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Click Customize next to the theme that you want to add the subscription widget to.
3. Select an existing product template, or create a new template to add the subscription widget to.
4. Under Product information, click Add block, and then select Subscription widget.
5. Optional: Customize the subscription widget to match your store's theme.
6. Click Save.

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Vintage themes

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Click ... > Edit code next to the theme that you want to add the subscription widget to.
3. In the product-template.liquid file, add the following code snippet where you want the subscription widget to display on your product page.

<div class="subscriptions_app_embed_block"></div>

1. Click Save, and then click Exit.
2. Click Customize next to the same theme.
3. In the App embeds section, turn on the Subscription widget.
4. Optional: Customize the subscription widget to match your store's theme.
5. Click Save.

Learn more about customizing themes and editing theme code.

Shopify Subscription app settings

Default purchase option title

The purchase option title is the name of your subscription plan that's displayed on your online store. If you change your default purchase option title, then the Purchase option title field when creating a subscription plan is also updated.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Subscriptions > Settings.
2. Under Default purchase option title, click Edit.
3. In the Display name field, type a new display name, and then click Done.

Shopify Subscription notifications

Activating or deactivating Shopify Subscription notifications

With Shopify Subscriptions, you can receive, send, and modify subscription email notifications. You can activate or deactivate the subscription email notifications you receive, and the email notifications that you send to your customers. Email notifications are activated by default.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
2. Under Customer notifications in the Subscriptions section, select email notifications to activate them, or deselect to deactivate them. Your selections are saved automatically.
3. Under Staff order notifications in the Subscriptions section, select email notifications to activate them, or deselect to deactivate them. Your selections are saved automatically.

Learn more about notifications, and editing notifications.

Adding a subscription policy

If you've set up a subscription, then a new Purchase options cancellation policy is automatically added to your store. This policy is linked in the cart page and in the Express checkout section of the checkout as a cancellation policy, and in the checkout footer as Subscription policy.

If you leave the policy in the Shopify admin settings blank, then a default template is displayed to customers.

At checkout, customers must agree to the cancellation policy terms before they can complete their purchase.

Edit your store policies to update the Purchase options cancellation policy that's displayed to your customers.