Overview

The value of the subscription box market in the UK is estimated to pass £1 billion by 2022 – up 72% vs. 2017. Almost 75% of organisations selling D2C are offering subscription services by 2023. Finally, the Global Subscription e-commerce market is expected to reach US$478 Bn by 2025, with a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 68%. These are trends that cannot be ignored and have been accelerated hugely by the impact of Covid19.

Why are Tribe subscription ecommerce specialists?

We have been working with subscription ecommerce companies since 2015. We have witnessed the shift in consumer behaviour, watched as the technical landscape has evolved and seen where the pitfalls are. As the popularity of cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) platforms such as Shopify have grown, and e-commerce has become increasingly accessible, so has the app and integrations ecosystem.

While these apps, plugins or integrations help with a lot of the heavy lifting to get a subscription proposition off the ground, there is always a degree of customisation that is required. D2C businesses succeed because they are niche and as a result, they will have different user experience requirements. A single software app (e.g. ReCharge or Bold) will simply not be able to cater for every single business model. This is why we created our own suite of software applications that help to provide that extra layer of detail merchants and customers need to deliver an experience that is stronger than its competitor.

Custom Subscription Software Applications

Subscription Dashboard

This is the tangible part that replaces the ReCharge dashboard and can be customised to reflect whatever service or product information is required while including the original ReCharge features. It is installed individually to each Shopify store, it can be highly branded and tailored for the customer experience. You can simply login with your Shopify customer account and all of the data is pulled through to show your order history, current subscriptions and billing details.

Subscription Manager

This single app is used by every installation of the Subscription Dashboard. The Manager creates a three-way connection between a Shopify store, the installed ReCharge app and our Subscription Dashboard. It ensures all of the data is authenticated and managed effectively, it also allows us to efficiently roll out updates, tackle security fixes and release bug patches to keep every Shopify store using our Subscription Dashboard up to date and secure, therefore it removes the manual process of making updates on each individual store, leaving you to simply focus on selling.

Why do we build custom applications?

In our experience, small businesses, ambitious startups and established ecommerce offerings moving into the subscription business model all experienced the same problem – a lack of flexibility with the out of the box recurring billing app and their customer portals. For a D2C business to thrive, it must compete against the convenience of larger online retailers such as Amazon or a supermarket. To provide a tailored product, service or experience – the website that facilitates that experience is likely to need customisation. For example, a custom discounting solution, a custom size/fit solution, colour matching service or product benefit etc. It is the tailored experience that provides the value of a D2C product and this needs to be reflected at every stage of the customer journey, including post-purchase which is often neglected.

Cost Per Acquisition rates are prohibitively high for many new ventures. Ensuring that you minimise churn and have a repeat customer with a high lifetime value is essential. We believe that rather than turning your customer off completely with limited choice, providing a bespoke portal with convenience and clear logic at its core, as well as the capability to maintain the preferred visual identity of the brand, is essential for business growth and long-term success.