Attracting Customers: with Subscribe & Save
Attracting Recurring Customers: Subscribe & Save
Maya Mulgaonkar – Account Manager Flatworld Group
Amazon has a “subscribe and save” program that allows sellers to offer continuity program. Since Amazon has millions of products that fit the continuity model, Amazon’s program is unique as compared to other continuity programs. This blog will describe how the program works for both sellers and buyers.
I’m a Seller, how can I participate in ‘Subscribe & Save’ program?
‘Subscribe & Save,’ an automated discounted subscription service, makes everyday living a little bit easier. We all use certain products on a regular basis and most of us find ourselves at the end of the box, bottle, tube or roll without having made our Amazon replenishment orders. Rather than manually ordering these items at a great price on Amazon, we end up running to a local store where the saving isn’t guaranteed. ‘Subscribe & Save’ allows the customer to select a recurring shipment of these products at a 5%, 10%, 15%, or 20% discount on these orders. The shipments are designed to fit your needs, offering monthly or even bi-annual deliveries. Amazon makes its very straightforward for sellers with eligible accounts and SKUs to enroll in ‘Subscribe & Save.’ You simply check your eligibility, enable your account’ and upload a ‘Subscribe & Save’ inventory file.
Seller Account Eligibility
- FBA seller for more than 3 months
- Account in good standing
- Feedback of 4.7 or higher
- In-stock rate of 85% or higher
Product Eligibility
- Products are offered through FBA
- Check if your product is in an eligible category
- Examples of these categories: beauty, grocery, health and baby care, automotive, home tool, kitchen, garden, outdoors, toys, sport, pet supplies and more
Enabling your Account
- In Seller Central, head to Fulfillment by Amazon settings. There you will find Subscription Settings
- Click Edit, Enable and then Update.
- Upload Your ‘Subscribe & Save’ Inventory File
Caveats for sellers
- Coupons and promotions will be added to ‘Subscribe & Save’ products. This means if you are running a coupon on an SKU which is also enrolled in ‘Subscribe & Save,’ The item will have both discounts applied at the time of check out.
What is ‘Subscribe & Save’ and why is it attractive to buyers?
Let’s look at an overview of the benefits to buyers:
- Free Shipping, even for non-prime members
- Flexible delivery dates, with the option to tweak specific date of delivery
- The frequency of delivery can be modified and updated
- Option to apply Amazon coupons to the first order.
- Discounted pricing on all subscription orders
- Available in many product categories, including beauty, grocery, health, and baby care, automotive, home tool, kitchen, garden, outdoors, toys, sport, pet supplies and more
What does it look like?
Where can buyers find eligible items for purchase?
From your Amazon homepage simple enter in ‘Subscribe & Save’ into the search bar. This will take you to the ‘Subscribe & Save’ Storefront. Here you can search thousands of products within the ‘Subscribe & Save’ program.
Caveats for Buyers
- Sellers can update their pricing at any time. It is up to the buyer to monitor the pricing of these orders.
- Larger discounts are only available to Prime members. The 5% discount is open to all buyers.
- To unlock 20% discount the Prime member buyer must have 5 or more subscriptions arriving at the same address on the same day.
- To unlock 15% discounts the Prime member buyer must have 5 or more subscriptions arriving at the same address within a one-month period. These can be across all applicable product fields.
