You can create subscription plans in your back office on behalf of your customers, and your customers can subscribe from your storefront. 

Use this best practice guide to how to sell subscription orders.

Key concepts

FAQ

Add subscription orders to your account

Enable subscriptions in your back office

Create the subscription plan

Skip an upcoming subscription order

Edit a subscription open order

Cancel a subscription plan

Enable subscriptions in your storefront

Export Subscription plan data

How your customer subscribes on your storefront

 

Key concepts

• Subscription plan - Defines how orders are created on a recurring basis. It specifies the customer, product(s), frequency, fulfillment, and payment details.
• Subscription discount - A percent discount you can apply at the price list level in Price lists > Settings, that is applied to all subscription products and packages on an order. It is not applied to any non-subscription products that are on the same order.
• Draft order - An order that is defined but not placed yet. It’s like having products in your cart but not having proceeded to check out yet to place the order. Inventory is not deducted at this stage, and the order is editable. Draft orders are displayed in the Upcoming order section when viewing an existing subscription. Draft orders can also be skipped. 
• Subscription order - An order that is created automatically based on the criteria defined in the subscription plan. This is when inventory is deducted and payment is processed.

FAQ

1. Can I add products to an existing subscription plan?
2. Can I add other products to an open subscription order?
3. What happens if I do not have sufficient inventory for a subscription product when the subscription order is automatically created?
4. What happens if I cancel a subscription?
5. What happens if I skip a draft order?
6. What happens to an existing subscription if I disable subscriptions in Products > Subscriptions settings?
7. What happens to an existing subscription if I disable subscriptions in Price lists > Settings > Subscriptions?
8. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit a payment method that is assigned to it?
9. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit or delete a fulfillment plan that is assigned to it?
10. What happens if I edit a customer’s address when they have a subscription plan?
11. What happens if I delete a customer that has a subscription plan?
12. What happens if I change a product price for a subscription product?
13. How do I remove a product from a subscription plan?
14. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit the subscription discount.
15. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit the Frequency Lead time setting?
16. Can you create a subscription plan for variable weight products?
17. How does subscriptions handle products that need approval to finalize the order (e.g. variable weight products)?
18. Which emails are sent for subscriptions?
19. How do I identify subscription orders in my Orders table?
20. How do I identify subscription products in my Log order view?
21. Can I set an expiry date for a subscription plan?
22. What happens if a subscription order fails to open?

 

1. Can I add products to an existing subscription plan?

   • Yes. When you add to a subscription plan you are also editing the upcoming (draft) orders. 

2. Can I add other products to an open subscription order?

   • Yes, you can do this from your Orders page, in the order edit view.

3. What happens if I do not have sufficient inventory for a subscription product when the subscription order is automatically created?

   • The order is still opened, and the inventory is deducted into the negatives.

4. What happens if I cancel a subscription?

   • Canceling a subscription prevents all future subscription orders from automatically opening. 
     1. Your customer receives an email to inform them.
     2. Any existing open subscription orders remain.
     3. Any existing draft orders are canceled
     4. Canceling is a permanent action. You may want to consider skipping a draft order if you expect to resume the subscription. Otherwise, you will need to create a new subscription to resume. 

5. What happens if I skip a draft order?

   • Your customer receives an email to inform them.
   • The skipped order is never opened. 
   • The next draft order is created when the skipped order was supposed to be opened. 
     1. Note that only draft orders can be skipped. And you can only skip the existing draft order, not future ones.

6. What happens to an existing subscription if I disable subscriptions in Products > Subscriptions settings?

   • Subscription orders continue to automatically create. But, any subscription discount you specified for this product is not applied. 

7. What happens to an existing subscription if I disable subscriptions in Price lists > Settings > Subscriptions?

   • Subscription orders continue to automatically create based on the settings you initially defined.

8. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit a payment method that is assigned to it?

   • Subscription orders continue to automatically create based on the settings you initially defined.

9. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit or delete a fulfillment plan that is assigned to it?

   • Subscription orders are not opened. 

10. What happens if I edit a customer’s address when they have a subscription plan?

    • The address on the subscription plan is not updated. You must update the address manually on the open subscription orders.

11. What happens if I delete a customer that has a subscription plan?

    • No further subscription orders are automatically created.
    • You cannot delete a customer if they have an active subscription plan. If you try to delete a customer that has a subscription plan, an alert is displayed to prompt you to cancel their subscription plan.

12. What happens if I change a product price for a subscription product?

    • Subscription pricing remains what it was set to when the subscription plan was created. To change the price for a subscription product you must cancel the existing plan and create a new subscription plan. 

13. How do I remove a product from a subscription plan?

    • You will need to access each subscription that has this product one by one and manually remove it. Subscriptions cannot be searched by product.

14. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit the subscription discount?

    • The subscription discount remains what it was set to when the subscription plan was created. To change the price for a subscription product you must cancel the existing plan and create a new subscription plan.

15. What happens to an existing subscription if I edit the Frequency Lead time setting?

    • The Frequency Lead Time remains what it was set to when the subscription plan was created. To change the price for a subscription product you must cancel the existing plan and create a new subscription plan.

16. Can you create a subscription plan for variable weight products?

    • Yes, any combination of Charge By/Track By inventory settings works. 

17. How does subscriptions handle products that need approval to finalize the order (e.g. variable weight products)?

    • Subscription orders that originate from a subscription plan that you created in your back office on behalf of your customer bypass the Needs approval state the same as when you log an order. 
    • Subscription orders that originate from a subscription plan created by your customer on your storefront and that have one or more products that need approval, are pre-authorized for payment and put on hold until you approve the order. The next subscription order will not open until you approve the existing subscription order.

18. Which emails are sent for subscription orders?

    • Your customer receives an email notification when:
      1. A subscription plan is created. 
      2. A subscription order is opened.
      3. A subscription order is skipped.
      4. A subscription plan is canceled. 

19. How do I identify subscription orders in my Orders table?

    • Subscription orders are indicated with a green icon with circular arrows in the Order column with the order number.

20. How do I identify subscription products in my Log order view?

    • Subscription products are indicated with a green icon with circular arrows, the same one that is displayed in your Orders table. 

21. Can I set an expiry date for a subscription plan?

    • No, subscription plans can only be canceled.

22. What happens if a subscription order fails to open?

    • An error report is sent by email to you.

Add subscription orders to your account

You can add subscription orders to your subscription with Local Line from your Settings page.

1. Go to the Subscription tab.
2. Click Add to subscription in the Subscription orders box.
3. Click Confirm.

You can also contact our Success team by emailing support@localline.ca if you would like assistance with updating your Local Line subscription.

Enable subscriptions in your back office

You can enable subscriptions in your back office only if you prefer to create and manage them on behalf of your customer. You can also enable them in your storefront for your customers to subscribe directly.

You define settings like eligible payment and fulfillment options, subscription frequencies, when subscription orders are automatically created, subscription discount, and storefront messaging for your subscription plan in your price list settings.

When you enable subscriptions on your price list, you can create a subscription plan for any of those products in your back office. Enabling this setting does not display subscriptions in your storefront. You must also Enable subscriptions by product to do that.

Prerequisite: You have a fulfillment plan with a recurring schedule (not flexible). If you do not have one you must create one before proceeding with the steps below.

1. On the Price lists page, click Edit settings for the price list you want to enable subscriptions for.
2. Click the Subscriptions tab.
3. In the Enable subscription purchases on this price list box, click the toggle to enable subscriptions.  
4. In the Fulfillment plan and frequencies box, check the box next to each delivery plan and pick up location you want to use for your subscription plan.
5. For each fulfillment plan you select, specify the Available frequencies for it, meaning how often the subscription will be fulfilled. 
   1. Click Add frequency and use the controls to specify the frequency.
   2. Click Remove to remove any unwanted frequencies.

 

6. In the Lead time box, specify the number of days before your customer's next fulfillment that they can edit their upcoming order for, or in other words, the number of days before the upcoming fulfillment draft order is automatically converted into an open subscription order (“lead day” in the diagram above). 
   1. When a subscription order is opened, inventory is deducted and if a credit card payment method is specified payment is processed.
   2. Your customer receives an email 24 hours before this cutoff time to prompt them to add to their order and let them know they have a limited time to make any other changes. 
7. In the Payment method eligibility box, check the box next to each payment method you want to use for your subscription plan.
   • If you are making an online payment gateway method eligible, and want the ability to bypass any credit card payment errors that might arise when creating a subscription plan due to things like entry error, enable the pay later feature for your online payment gateway in your Price list settings.
8. If you want to prioritize store credit payment for subscription orders, check the box to enable that.
9. In the Subscription discount box, set a percentage discount you want to apply to incentivize your customer to subscribe. The discount applies to all subscription products in that price list. Leave the box empty if you do not want to apply a discount.
10. In the Subscription skipping box, check the box if you want to allow customers to skip their upcoming subscription delivery.
11. In the Storefront messaging box, enter a Subscription program name. This appears above the option to subscribe on product pages and on user account pages.
12. Enter a Product page description. This appears below the subscription program name on the option to subscribe on product pages.
13. [Optional] Enter a Subscription confirmation message. This message is displayed on the order confirmation page and is useful for providing additional instructions for subscription orders.
14. Click Save and go back.

Create a subscription plan

When you create the subscription plan you are specifying which customer is subscribing to which products and how often, which fulfillment option they want as well as how they want to pay for their subscription.

You can add a subscription plan on a per customer basis, and you a customer can have multiple subscription plans.

1. In the left side navigation panel, click Subscriptions.
2. Click Create subscription plan.
3. Select the customer, or click New customer to add a new one.
4. Click Add products to select which product(s) this customer is subscribing to. 
5. In the Fulfillment box, specify which option is applicable.
6. In the Payment box, specify which method is applicable.
7. [Optional] In the Back office details section:
   1. Add Order tags that are applicable.
   2. Add Back office notes that are applicable.
8. Click Save and go back.

The first subscription order is opened immediately after saving the subscription plan, inventory is deducted and if you have specified a credit card payment method the card is charged. 

The subscription plan displays the upcoming (draft) order, and you can edit all upcoming orders by editing the subscription plan.

If you want to add a product to only one subscription order, you can do so when the subscription order is opened from your Orders page table by editing the order.

Skip an upcoming subscription order

You can skip an upcoming subscription order from the Subscriptions page table by checking the box next to one or more plans and then clicking Skip.

Or, from the subscription plan edit view. Click the Edit button for a plan and then click Skip order in the Next order box.

Your customer receives an email to notify them that the subscription order has been skipped.

Edit a subscription open order

 

Once a subscription draft order converts to an open order you can modify it like you do other orders from your Orders page. Subscription orders are indicated with a green, circular icon in your Orders page table.

You can increase the quantity of a subscription product or add one off products to a customer’s draft or open subscription order, and change any other details as needed.

Cancel a subscription plan

You can skip an upcoming subscription order from the Subscriptions page table by checking the box next to one or more plans and then clicking Cancel.

Or, from the subscription plan edit view. Click the Edit button for a plan and then click Cancel subscription.

Your customer receives an email to notify them that the subscription has been canceled.

Enable subscriptions in your storefront 

To offer subscriptions in your storefront you must have subscriptions enabled in your back office price list settings. In those settings you define things like the fulfillment and payment options for all subscription plans created for that price list. 

You must enable subscriptions at the product level to indicate them with a Subscribe label in your storefront and allow your customers to subscribe directly. 

Prerequisite: Enable subscriptions in your back office

 

1. Go to the Products page.
2. Click the dot menu for a product and then click Edit product.
3. Go to the Subscriptions tab.
4. Select which price list(s) you want the product to be available to subscribe from.
5. Select which package(s) of the product you want to be subscribable.
6. Select whether you want the product to be available as a subscription only or as both a subscription and a one-time purchase.
7. Click Save and go back. 

Export Subscription plan data

You can export your Subscription plan data to a .csv file that includes these fields:

• Plan #
• Created
• Customer
• Status
• Price List
• Frequency
• Products (count)
• Total

1. On the Subscriptions page, click Export in the top right.

How your customer subscribes on your storefront

Both registered and unregistered customers that check out as a "guest" can subscribe from your storefront. However, an unregistered customer will not be able to view or manage their subscription directly since they have not created an account. If they create an account it will automatically be connected to their existing subscription as long as the same email address is used.

 

When you enable subscriptions on your storefront, all products that you have enabled subscriptions for at the product level display a Subscribe label on the product image, along with a button for Subscription options which leads to the product detail view where your customer can see whether the product is subscription only or can be a one-time purchase, and lists the available frequencies you have defined.

Your customer can begin the checkout process by clicking the Select a delivery option button in the top right of the page, or by clicking Add to cart next to a product.

Before anything is added to their cart, they are prompted to specify their fulfillment option. This is so that the system can check if that option is eligible for a subscription product they may be trying to add to their cart.

If they have selected a fulfillment option that is not eligible for a subscription product they want to add to their cart, an alert is displayed to tell them:

They can edit their fulfillment option in their cart to try another option, or add the product as a one time purchase if you have enabled that setting in your back office product settings.

The cart now has two tabs: Active cart and Your carts. The Active cart captures your customer’s current shopping session. The Your carts tab is where your customer can see their upcoming subscription orders to edit, add, or skip the upcoming order.

They can proceed to checkout as usual when they have finished shopping:

When your customer subscribes to a product on your storefront they receive an email confirming the subscription. They also receive an email notification when a subscription order is skipped by them or you, or if their subscription plan is cancelled.

Your registered customers can also view, modify and cancel their subscriptions from their Account settings > Subscription history page or from the Your carts tab in their cart. 

Your customer sees the upcoming draft order in their Your carts tab of their cart, not the currently open subscription order.

Subscription orders that have been skipped are shown in the Your carts view and your customer has the option to Unskip and reopen if the order cutoff has not been reached yet. Subscription orders with an expired fulfillment date are not displayed in the Your carts view.