Best Subscription Ecommerce Platforms for 2020
Subscription is an emerging business model applied by many merchants, especially in the ecommerce field, thanks to its advantages. This is because subscription ecommerce is shining bright when it comes to developing a long-term relationship with its customers.
Come to think of it – who doesn’t want a better shopping experience? The subscription ecommerce market has grown by a whopping 100% year-over-year for the past five years.
Our Stockport website development team at Blue Whale Media has analysed the most popular subscription ecommerce platforms that they use daily.
Popular choices for subscription-based eCommerce websites include WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento.
But, first, what is a subscription ecommerce platform?
A subscription ecommerce platform is a system that empowers merchants to sell products or services online, having a payment gateway integrated that lets your bill and invoice customers periodically. These platforms help you collect subscription feed from customers weekly, monthly, or annually without the hassle.
WooCommerce
Without a doubt, WordPress is the number one website builder with over 1.3 billion active websites, accounting for over 35% of the total number of websites on the internet. Woocommerce subscriptions are the most popular tool to bring subscription capabilities to your ecommerce website.
Woocommerce subscriptions is not a stand-alone system; it’s a WordPress plugin. You will need to have a WordPress website to install the woocommerce plugin and subscription; the subscription plugin is £199 per year to access its full features.
Features of WooCommerce:
- Support both simple subscription products and variable subscription
- Integration with over 33 payment gateways
- Support automatic payment
- Built-in renewal notifications and automatic emails
- Detailed reports
Shopify
Shopify is not directly a subscription ecommerce platform; however, there are dozens of third-party apps providing this function on the Shopify app store. To sell subscriptions, you will need to create a Shopify store; there are three main pricing options to choose from – basic, standard and advanced.
Features of Shopify:
- Forecast revenue and inventory with automated projections
- Access robust analytics and powerful reports
- Automatically send emails to notify you when you have low inventory for upcoming orders.
- Full control over language and styling
- Connect with major payment gateways
- Integrate other apps within the ecosystem
Magento
Magento also does not support selling subscription products; you will have to install an extension from the Magento marketplace to make it a subscription ecommerce platform. Magento’s open-source is entirely free. The only thing you have to pay for is the domain and hosting, like with many websites.
Features of Magento:
- Fully compatible with Magento 2 open-source and Magento 2 commerce
- Integrate with PayPal and Stripe
- Create different subscription plans and apply to existing products
- Manage and edit all customer and subscription information
- Allow subscribers to suspend, cancel and renew their subscription from the user dashboard.
- Offer trial period for products and services
The most important thing is finding the most suitable ecommerce subscription platform for your brunette business and future goals. With so many options to consider, you’ll need to narrow down your choices. Hopefully, this has helped.
If you need more information, head to our ecommerce page to see how Blue Whale Media can help you.
