Buy X, Subscribe to Y

Buy X, Subscribe to Y automatically migrates a customer's subscription from one product to another as soon as they check out on your store. This feature is distinct from a customer initiated SKU Swap via the Subscription Management Interface.

Overview

Buy X, Subscribe to Y is a subscription style where your customers checkout with one one product, then are automatically swapped to another product for recurring shipments. Customers might purchase a razor head and receive monthly razor blade refills, or an air purified and restock on the filters. Using this feature you can power similar experiences without requiring any effort from your customer.

Tatcha offers a Buy X, Subscribe to Y on their Dewy Skin Cream. Customers checkout with a Refillable Jar and Refill Pod; recurring shipments only have the Refill Pod.

Product Configuration

There are two ways to configure Buy X, Subscribe to Y for your program, and both are covered in this article:

1. Product Configuration - Set a Buy X, Subscribe to Y relationship via the product configuration file (available on all platforms)
2. Purchase POST - Specify a Buy X, Subscribe to Y relationship in the context of the Purchase POST that creates a subscription (not available on Shopify)

You can set up a Buy X, Subscribe to Y relationship for your product(s) by leveraging the product configuration file. To set up the relationship, simply enter the refill product in the Swap on Purchase Product column for any products that should be swapped on purchase.

Important Notes: 

• Customers will always be swapped to the refill product when it is specified for a given checkout product
• The refill product can be added, updated, or deleted by re-uploading the product configuration file
• You can only specify one refill product per checkout product
• The swap will not be made if subscription is created via Instant Upsell
• The refill product also needs to be marked as subscription eligible.

Purchase POST

You can also power a Buy X, Subscribe to Y experience by listing the product ID of the refill product in the context of the Purchase POST when creating a subscription. The refill product should be listed in the tracking override section for the given checkout product.

Important Notes:

• You can only specify one refill product per checkout product
• This method is not available on platforms where you cannot directly modify the Purchase POST request (e.g. Shopify)