How to Set Up a Shopify Store with Subscriptions

You can set up Shopify store subscriptions and take your first recurring payment in a single afternoon. The process has 10 steps: choose a plan, configure your store, add products, install a subscription app, create selling plans, set up the product widget, enable the customer portal, configure dunning, add loyalty, and launch. This guide walks through each step with the exact settings to use.

Before you start

You need a Shopify account (Basic at $39/mo is enough), at least one product ready to sell on subscription, and a subscription app. This guide uses SubZwallet as the example, but the steps are similar for Recharge, Appstle, or any app built on the Shopify Subscription Contracts API.

Step-by-step setup

Choose your Shopify plan. Shopify Basic ($39/mo) works for most new subscription businesses. You get Shopify Payments (required for automatic card updates), a full online store, and access to the App Store. Upgrade to Shopify ($105/mo) for better reporting or Plus ($2,300/mo) for checkout customization when you outgrow Basic.
Set up your store basics. Add your store name, logo, and branding. Pick a Shopify 2.0 theme that supports subscription widgets (Dawn, Sense, and Craft all do). Configure shipping zones and rates. Enable Shopify Payments as your payment gateway so subscribers get automatic card updates.
Add your products. Go to Products > Add product in Shopify admin. For each subscription product, write a clear title and description, upload quality images, and set the price as your one-time purchase price. Your subscription app will apply the subscriber discount later. Enable inventory tracking for physical products.
Install your subscription app. Search the Shopify App Store for SubZwallet (or your chosen app). Click Add app and approve the permissions for products, orders, and customer data. These are required for the Subscription Contracts API. Complete the onboarding wizard. The install takes under 5 minutes.
Create subscription plans (selling plans). In your subscription app, create selling plans for each product. Set billing frequency options (every 2 weeks, monthly, every 6 weeks, every 2 months). Set a subscribe-and-save discount of 10-20% off the one-time price. Choose pay-per-delivery or prepaid. Assign plans to your subscription products.
Configure the subscription widget on product pages. Your app adds a widget to product pages showing the one-time price and subscription price side by side. Customize the text, colors, and layout to match your theme. Make the subscription option visually prominent. Test on mobile, since over 70% of Shopify traffic comes from phones.
Set up the customer portal. Enable the self-service portal in your subscription app. Subscribers use this to swap products, change frequency, skip or pause deliveries, and update payment methods. Customize the portal branding and link to it from order confirmation emails and your site navigation.
Enable dunning for failed payments. Turn on automatic payment retries in your app. Set 3-5 retry attempts over 10-14 days. A standard schedule: retry on day 1, day 3, day 5, day 7, and day 10. Enable email notifications on each failed attempt with a direct link to update card info. This single step prevents 20-40% of involuntary churn.
Add loyalty and retention features. If your app supports loyalty natively (SubZwallet does), set up points earning on subscription renewals, cashback rewards, or VIP tiers. If not, install a separate loyalty app. Configure a cancellation flow that offers pause, skip, or a discount before processing the cancellation.
Test and launch. Enable Shopify Payments test mode (Settings > Payments > Shopify Payments). Place a test subscription order. Verify the contract appears in your app. Check the customer portal. Trigger a simulated failed payment to confirm dunning works. Then disable test mode, remove your store password, and launch.

Common setup mistakes to avoid

Do not skip Shopify Payments. Third-party gateways lose automatic card updates and add 0.5-2% in transaction fees. Do not offer only one billing frequency. Give subscribers at least 3 options so they can match their usage. Do not hide the subscription option below the fold on product pages. If customers cannot find it, they buy one-time and never come back. For the full list, read our guide to 10 Shopify subscription mistakes that kill retention.

Post-launch checklist

Monitor these metrics weekly for the first month: new subscription signups, churn rate (voluntary and involuntary, tracked separately), failed payment recovery rate, and customer portal usage. Adjust dunning timing, subscription discounts, and onboarding emails based on what the data shows. Most stores need 2-3 months of iteration before retention stabilizes. For more on getting started with Shopify, see Shopify's official setup guide (https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify).

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to start a Shopify subscription store?: Shopify Basic ($39/mo) plus SubZwallet free plan (25 subscriptions) means you can start for $39/mo. Paid subscription app plans start around $79/mo for unlimited subscribers.
Do I need Shopify Plus for subscriptions?: No. All Shopify plans support subscriptions through third-party apps. Plus adds checkout customization and Shopify Functions, which are useful at scale but not required to launch.
What is the best subscription app for a new Shopify store?: SubZwallet is a strong choice because it includes subscriptions, loyalty, cashback, and dunning in one app. Recharge and Appstle are solid if you only need subscription billing.