Software package

Subscription box package

A subscription commerce system with plans subscribers can skip, pause and swap, cycle billing through a connected payment provider with retry and dunning, box contents set per cycle with a customisation window, gift subscriptions, shipment batches with carrier labels and a subscriber portal, ready to configure around your cadence.

Custom build Concept demo

Get a quote for this package

Who it is for

Built for

A good fit

Subscription box and recurring product brands, from a founder-run box with a few hundred subscribers packed in a unit to an established brand with thousands of subscribers and a fulfilment team or partner. It suits subscriptions managers who define plans and cycle contents, fulfilment staff who run dispatch day, customer service staff who handle pauses, address changes and failed payments, and subscribers who want to manage everything themselves from a phone.

Also worth knowing

It is less suited to one-off shops, which the online shop package covers, to content memberships with no physical shipment, and to brands whose plans are calculated from subscriber data or shipped from several warehouses with different cut-offs, which should look at the custom service first. Brands that sell one-off products alongside subscriptions are covered, since the package runs both through one checkout.

The operational problem it solves

How it runs, step by step

The subscriptions manager opens the cycle screen on the first of the month.

This cycle's box contents are set: a core selection every subscriber receives and two options subscribers choose between during a customisation window that closes on the eighth.
Reminder emails go out automatically.
A subscriber on the quarterly plan logs into her portal, swaps one option, skips the following cycle because she will be away and updates her address; the next charge date and the batch she belongs to adjust on their own.

Billing runs on the tenth.

Most charges succeed through the payment provider.
For the ones that fail, the dunning schedule the manager configured retries on the dates set, sends the subscriber a message with a link to update their card, and holds the box during a grace period; three subscribers update their cards the same day and are returned to the batch.
On the twelfth the fulfilment lead locks the batch: pick quantities per option are shown, labels are created through the carrier for every subscriber due, the two gift subscriptions bought last week are included with their recipient addresses, and tracking is written back and emailed.
In the afternoon a subscriber cancels; the portal asks for a reason and offers a pause instead, and he takes the pause.
The manager's dashboard shows active subscribers by plan, this cycle's recovered payments and the cancellation reasons for the month.

Features

What the package does

The package is organised as modules that follow a cycle from sign-up to dispatch: plans and sign-up, cycle billing and dunning, contents and customisation, fulfilment batches and gifts, and the subscriber portal and reporting. Each module below lists what it does; the comparison table shows which package variant includes it.

Catalogue and checkout

Plans with skip, pause, swap and change rulesPlans have a frequency, price and included items, with the rules for skipping, pausing, swapping and changing plan.
Gift subscriptionsA subscription bought for a recipient that runs for a fixed number of cycles.
Referral codes and creditSubscribers share referral codes and earn credit against future cycles.

Payments and policies

One checkout for subscriptions and one-off itemsCustomers sign up and add one-off purchases in the same checkout through a connected payment provider.
Box contents per cycleSet the contents of each cycle's box, with a window in which subscribers can customise theirs.

Billing and payments

Cycle billing with retries and dunningEach subscriber is billed on their own date, with a retry schedule, reminder emails and a grace period for failed payments.

Stock and inventory

Shipment batches per cycleEach cycle produces a shipment batch with pick quantities and carrier labels.

Workflow and tasks

Cancellation, pause and win-back offersCancellation records a reason, offers a pause first and can follow up with win-back offers.

Portal and access

Subscriber portalSubscribers manage their own plan, skips, pauses and payment details without contacting you.

Compliance and records

Tax rules per plan and destinationTax rules are set per plan and per delivery destination.

Reporting and insights

Subscriber, churn and revenue reportingReports on subscribers, churn, failed and recovered payments and revenue by plan.

Integrations

Fulfilment partner batch filesBatch files go to your fulfilment partner and tracking comes back in.

Roles and permissions

Who does what

Subscriptions manager
- Define plans, frequencies, prices and the rules for skip, pause and swap
- Set box contents and the customisation window per cycle
- Configure the dunning schedule, grace period and win-back offers
- See active subscribers, churn by reason, failed and recovered payments
Fulfilment
- Lock a cycle batch and see pick quantities per option
- Create carrier labels for the batch and record tracking
- Handle address cut-offs and late changes
- Mark boxes dispatched and trigger notifications
Customer service
- Find subscribers and see their cycle history and payment attempts
- Pause, skip, swap or change plan on a subscriber's behalf
- Resend card update links and refund a cycle within the rules set
- Add notes and handle gift recipient queries
Subscriber
- Choose a plan and sign up with a stored payment method
- Skip, pause, swap options or change plan from the portal
- Update address and card details before the cut-off
- Buy a gift subscription and see past boxes and invoices

Example screen

Concept demo

Concept demo of the subscription cycle screen showing box contents, option counts, billing results with dunning and a batch ready to lock.

The cycle screen as the subscriptions manager sees it: this cycle's contents and options with choices counted, the customisation window closing date, billing results with failed payments in dunning, and the batch ready to lock with pick quantities.

Scope and options

What is included and what is extra

In the base package

Plans with frequency, price, included items and rules for skip, pause, swap and plan change
Sign-up and one-off purchases through one checkout with a connected payment provider
Cycle billing on each subscriber's date with retry schedule, dunning emails and grace period
Box contents per cycle with a customisation window
Shipment batches per cycle with pick quantities and carrier labels
Gift subscriptions with a recipient and a fixed number of cycles
Cancellation with reasons, pause offer and win-back offers
Subscriber portal for all self-service actions
Configurable tax rules per plan and destination
Reporting on subscribers, churn, failed and recovered payments and revenue by plan

Common add-ons

Fulfilment partner batch files and tracking import
Referral codes and credit against future cycles
Segments exported to your mailing platform by plan and status

Needs custom work

Plans calculated from subscriber profile data
Ride-along one-off items in the next scheduled box
Several warehouses with their own cut-offs and regions

See the custom development service

Ownership, maintenance and pricing

After the build

Deployment and ownership

The package runs on your own hosting or on hosting we manage; the choice is made in the proposal and can change later. In both cases you own the code and your data. Subscribers, plans, cycle history, payment attempts and shipments can be exported at any time in standard formats, and nothing in the package stops you moving it to another provider. Stored payment methods live with the connected payment provider, never in the package.

Maintenance

Maintenance is optional and scoped separately from the build. When taken, it covers security updates to the platform and its dependencies, monitoring of the billing run, payment provider callbacks, carrier connections and notification sends, backups, and a monthly window for small configuration changes such as a new plan, a dunning step or a tax rule. Larger changes are quoted as change requests against the original scope.

Pricing model

Priced per proposal.

The package is sold as a one-off setup and customisation, with optional monthly maintenance and hosting as separate recurring lines. The setup figure depends on the number of plans and their rules, the add-ons selected, the payment provider and whether stored payment methods are migrated through it, the carrier or fulfilment partner connected, how many subscribers are migrated and whether you host it yourself. Payment provider and carrier fees are charged by those providers directly. Your proposal states each line separately.

Software package

Custom build Concept demo

Variants

Plans with frequency, price, included items and rules for skip, pause, swap and plan change
Sign-up and one-off purchases through one checkout with a connected payment provider
Cycle billing on each subscriber's date with retry schedule, dunning emails and grace period
Box contents per cycle with a customisation window

Priced per proposal. A written proposal is the only binding figure.

Get a quote for this package Prefer a fully custom build?

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can subscribers skip or pause without contacting us?

Yes. The portal lets a subscriber skip a cycle, pause for a period you allow, swap options during the customisation window and change plan, within the rules the subscriptions manager set. Each action adjusts the next charge date and the batch automatically.

What happens when a card payment fails?

The dunning schedule you configured takes over: retries on set dates, emails with a card update link, a grace period during which the box is held or shipped as you decide, and a final state such as paused or cancelled. Every attempt is recorded against the subscriber.

How does dispatch day work?

Fulfilment locks the cycle batch after the address cut-off. The screen shows pick quantities per option, carrier labels are created for everyone due, gifts are included with recipient addresses, and tracking is written back and emailed to each subscriber.

Can someone buy a subscription as a gift?

Yes. A gift carries a recipient name and address, a message and a fixed number of cycles, is paid once by the buyer and ships in the normal batches. The recipient can be invited to continue on their own plan when it ends.

How is VAT applied to each cycle?

Through tax rules you configure per plan and destination, applied to each cycle's charge and shown on the invoice in the portal. The package applies the rules; deciding which rate applies to your box contents remains with you and your accountant.

Is this a finished product I can see running?

Not yet. The readiness badge shows the real state: the package is a custom build assembled from our orders, inventory, memberships and billing modules for each brand, and the example on this page is a labelled concept demo rather than a live subscription system.

We ship from two warehouses with different cut-offs. Is that included?

The package runs one batch per cycle with one cut-off. Several warehouses assigned by region with their own cut-offs are custom work handled through the custom subscription commerce service.

Get a quote for Subscription box package

Tell us about your locations, the people who will use it and the add-ons you need. We reply with a clear, competitive proposal.