How to Grow Your Subscription Ecommerce Business

Want to learn more about what a subscription business model is and how it can help drive growth for your eCommerce business?

The subscriptions market is red-hot as consumers continue to value convenience, choice, and discovering new products. If you're looking to start a subscription model, or optimise your existing processes, this article provides an in-depth look at the areas to focus on. 

What Is a Subscription Business Model?

A subscription business model involves customers making regular payments for continued access to goods or services. While subscriptions have been used by newspaper and magazine publishers, television networks, and software companies for many decades, in recent years, more industries have adopted the subscription business model as a way to maintain a consistent revenue stream. 

While industry giants such as Amazon and Microsoft have leveraged subscriptions to provide their respective eCommerce and software services to massive international customer bases, the subscription business model has proven immensely popular across the eCommerce and entertainment industries.

How do Subscription Business Models Work?

Depending on the nature of your business, the subscription business model can be applied in various ways to achieve a reliable source of revenue. That being said, several features of subscription business models remain consistent across industries. These include:

• Recurring Payments: When customers subscribe to a business, they are committing to making routine payments to continue accessing products or services. As these payments are made at set intervals, such as weekly, monthly, or annually, it is easier for businesses to forecast demand and plan for expansion.
• Automated Payments: Managing an automated billing system enables customers to make repeat payments without having to manually enter their details each time. This makes the process much easier for the customer while mitigating the incidence of errors. 
• Personal Accounts: When a customer subscribes to a service, they are prompted to create an account with their service provider, allowing them to manage their subscription independently without requiring customer service support. This allows them to make various amendments to their subscription, such as updating their payment information, switching to a different subscription tier, or pausing or cancelling their subscription. 
• Subscription Tiers: Many subscription business models incorporate tiered structures to make their services more accessible to customers with varying disposable incomes.
• Product and Service Updates: Introducing new products or services is essential to increase the appeal of a subscription business, as well as to retain customers or incentivise upgrades to higher tiers.
• Free Trials: Offering free access for a limited period is an effective way to demonstrate the value of a subscription service, increasing the likelihood that potential customers will commit to a subscription.
• Customer Analysis: Monitoring key metrics, such as growth rates and customer retention, can provide valuable insights into the performance of a subscription business model, which can be used to address issues or develop new strategies.
• Customer Service: As the subscription business model relies on customers continuing to pay for products or services, maintaining positive relationships through responsive customer service is crucial to the longevity of subscription businesses. 
• Legal Compliance: While providing accessible cancellation policies and transparent terms of service is a legal requirement in most countries, making this information readily available is an effective way to earn the trust of your customers.

At the Whistl Group, we work with subscription retailers across a diverse range of industries, from the beauty business grüum to the eco-toilet roll company Who Gives a Crap. This arms us with a unique perspective on which strategies and tactics the best-performing retailers implement to maximise their subscription sales. Discover our subscription fulfilment services.

What are the Three Types of Subscription Business Models?

There are three types of subscription business models, each offering various advantages and disadvantages for your eCommerce business. These are:

1. The Curation Model

Representing 55% of subscription retailers, the curation model enables subscribers to regularly receive a unique selection of items tailored to their personal needs and preferences. This model is popular with less price-sensitive consumers who have higher disposable incomes and love to act on their impulses. Examples include personal shopping services such as The Chapar and Rent the Runway.

Laithwaites adopts a hybrid subscription business model of curation and access, in which members pay a monthly fee to access a carefully selected range of wines curated by Laithwaites’ in-house wine experts.

Advantages:

• Tailoring your product selection to each customer can increase their engagement with your brand, earning their loyalty and subsequently raising your retention rates. 

• Product selections can be changed to align with industry trends and meet the demand of your consumer base.

• Depending on the quality and quantity of your product selections, curation subscriptions can provide a substantial source of revenue. 

Disadvantages:

• Curating unique product selections for each of your subscribers can be difficult to manage, especially when you are sourcing products from multiple suppliers.

• As the curated subscription boxes are typically marketed as luxury items, they are more susceptible to being cancelled should your customers’ financial situation change. 

• While the promise of tailored product selections can initially drive engagement, the curation model can suffer from lower customer retention as the novelty diminishes.

2. The Replenishment Model

Representing 32% of subscription retailers, the replenishment model enables consumers to automate the purchase of commodity items, allowing them to receive regular replenishment deliveries. This subscription model is best suited for retailers that cater to price-sensitive consumers, such as those in the food, nutrition, health, and wellness categories.

Examples include Lenstore, Graze and Dollar Shave Club.

Advantages:

• Businesses that employ the replenishment model typically have higher conversation rates than those using alternative models.

• Replenishment subscriptions have higher customer retention than other subscription business models.

• This model is convenient for customers who are time-stretched.

Disadvantages:

• Your business may need to offer discounts on its products to compete with its single-purchase competitors, which can impact your profit margins.

• Depending on the lifespan of your products and the frequency of their replenishment, this model may not be viable for your business. 

• Your business may struggle to create an emotional connection with customers when delivering functional products.

3. The Access Model

Representing 13% of all subscription retailers, the access model enables subscribers to pay a regular fee for attractive member-only perks, including exclusive discounts and early access to new products.

Popular in the fashion, apparel, and food industries, this approach appeals to consumers because it gives them the opportunity to be among the first to access new products, receive exclusive discount codes, or join a VIP club.

One example of this is the US-based arts, crafts, and office supplies retailer Tombow. Their VIP Club allows their biggest fans to join an exclusive community, receive members-only deals and try their products before they're available anywhere else.

Advantages:

• Businesses that employ the access model can foster member communities by hosting forums or creating social media groups.

• Offering personalised perks and offers to select subscribers creates an effective way to forge relationships between your brand and its customers.

• The access model gives businesses the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell products to subscribers who display an interest in premium services.

Disadvantages:

• Customers may expect a constant stream of new offers and perks to justify their subscription, which could lower customer retention if you are unable to meet their expectations.

• Facilitating new offers and perks could increase the cost of operating your business, forcing you to increase the price of your subscriptions or accept lower profit margins.

• Your business may face subscription cancellations from passive members who don’t often see or use the benefits. 

How to Choose the Right Subscription Model

From the consumer habits of your target audience to the logistics of structuring your business around one model or another, many factors should inform which subscription model is right for your business. We recommend that you consider the following factors before making your decision: 

• Customer Base

The needs, desires, and values of your customers should influence how you structure your subscription business. Whether your customers are looking for a convenient way to access their favourite products and services or are excited by exclusive offers and tailored product selections, you should choose a subscription business model that accommodates them.

• Product Range

If you find that your key customer segments prioritise pricing and convenience, then the replenishment subscription model would be most appropriate. Whereas, if your product offering is a luxury item, then your customers may prefer the curation model. If your customers love giving you feedback and being involved with the design of your product, then the access model may be more appropriate.

• Market Trends

While examining your competitors can offer some inspiration for modelling your subscription business, in saturated markets, it may be necessary to take a contrasting approach to make your offering stand out from the crowd. 

• Resources and Infrastructure

By being realistic about the capacity of your current operations, you can avoid choosing a subscription model that is incompatible with your business. While you might be drawn to the high-profit potential of the curation model, without the necessary resources and connections to produce tailored product selections, you may struggle to get your subscription business off the ground.

• Financial Planning

Calculating the viability of each business model is the most practical way to determine which subscription business model is most suitable for your venture. By considering your price points, the cost of customer acquisition and the lifetime value of your customers, you should be able to determine which model offers the most potential for prosperity.

• Customer Support

Subscription businesses must provide significantly more support to their customers than conventional eCommerce companies. In addition to handling customer enquiries, your business needs to be able to facilitate changes to subscription tiers and any troubleshooting associated with your chosen model.

How to Start a Subscription Business in the UK

Building a subscription business may seem daunting, but our team at Whistl are here to guide you through it. Here’s an outline of the basic steps you should be taking when starting a subscription business:

1. Find Your Niche

Finding your niche is the first step in how to start a subscription business – you need to know what you will be trying to sell to customers and why. From here, you can conduct research into your chosen industry to gain a deeper understanding of your top competitors, target audience, and average price points.

The next step is to pick the types of products or services that your subscription business will offer. This may involve reviewing your current catalogue and deciding which products offer the most potential for repeat purchases.  

For original subscription business model ideas, you may need to create prototype subscriptions to test your offering. While your product or service does not need to be finalised at this stage, it needs to be developed enough such that it can feature in early marketing content.

2. Set Your Objectives

Think about what you want to achieve and how you want to make your customers feel. Setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goals is critical to give your plan direction you can continuously work towards. Don’t forget to establish small milestone goals to break down the bigger objectives into realistic chunks.

3. Choose Your Subscription Model

Using the information we have provided above, you may already know which subscription business model best fits your business. If you’re unsure, revisit your objectives to consider what your target customers actually want and how they would prefer to receive your offering. Conduct market research if necessary.

4. Develop Your Offering

You need to source or develop your offering in order to provide to your customers. For example, if you are creating products, you may need to seek the best suppliers that align with your business or create specialist kits. On the other hand, when offering discounts or perks, you may need to consider how to develop loyalty tiers and secure exclusive deals.

5. Create a Pricing Strategy

Once you know what products or services you are offering, you can start developing a pricing structure for your subscription business. Depending on the nature of your offering, you may want to create different subscription tiers to make your products more accessible to a wider audience or to offer a premium service for customers with higher incomes.

You may wish to consider alternative payment plans to incentivise a longer-term commitment to your subscription service. For instance, your yearly subscription could cost less than the cumulative price of your monthly plan, allowing your customers to save money in exchange for a larger initial payment. Ultimately, you should ensure that your price points are both appealing to your target audience and profitable for your business.

6. Choose Your Platform

Once you have decided on your subscription model, offering, and pricing structure, you will have all the necessary information to start building an online store. Whether this is an extension of an existing site or an entirely new website, your online store should host images and descriptions of your products or services, details about how your subscription business model works, as well as a facility for your customers to subscribe.

The platform that’s right for you will depend on your company’s needs. For example, Shopify provides a good fit for eCommerce-focused businesses.

7. Market Your Subscription Business

After launching, you may wonder how to grow a subscription business. To do this, you’ll want to ensure the right people see your offering, which involves marketing.

In addition to creating traditional and digital advertisements, it can be beneficial to establish a social media presence on platforms and in communities that align with your target audience. Reaching out to micro-influencers is a smart way to convert established communities into your own community of loyal subscribers. Running contests or giveaways can also increase engagement and drive sales.

Whistl offers advertising services to help subscription retailers acquire and retain customers cost-effectively.

8. Monitor, Analyse and Refine

So, how do you grow a subscription business further? You’ll need to monitor your progress and analyse those all-important KPIs. For example, you could measure churn rate and customer acquisition costs.

Evaluating how successfully you are meeting specific targets can indicate whether you need to adjust the current strategy.

Benefits of Building a Subscription Business Model

There are many benefits to building a subscription business. For example, a subscription business model can help your business:

• Drive Retention

Customer acquisition via digital and direct channels is becoming increasingly expensive. This surge is corroding retailers’ profit margins and, therefore, their ability to scale. Adopting a subscription business model has become popular because it helps retailers overcome high acquisition costs by driving customer retention and maximising customer lifetime value.

• Personalise Offerings

Subscription services are more convenient for retailers because they can tailor their offerings to their customers’ preferences and behaviours.

• Offer Customers Control

Subscription eCommerce is more convenient for consumers because they can control the frequency of their purchases, usually pause the plan at any time and in some instances, subscription retailers can offer personal shopping services.

• Strengthen Relationships

Subscription online stores have more time to build relationships with consumers and can use them as a sounding board to help inform new product development.

• Gather Feedback

Subscription retailers can gather more detailed customer feedback more quickly. For example, subscription food snack retailer and Whistl client Graze receives more than 15,000 ratings per hour during peak periods on the content of its health food snack boxes. This enables Graze to evolve its offering and more accurately cater to consumers’ ever-changing demands and tastes.

What is the Size of the Subscription Market and What is the Growth Rate?

The global subscription eCommerce market reached USD 37.5 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 116.2 billion by 2033, displaying a compound annual growth rate of 13.3% from 2025 to 2033. Furthermore, we found that 81% of UK households now use subscription services. This may be due to the increasing demand for curated and personalised items as well as the rising influence of social media.

These statistics indicate that companies may want to capitalise on growing opportunities in the subscription market and focus more on customer satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value rather than just acquisition. Brands need to be able to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Plus, with customers expecting consistent value over time, companies must now prioritise product improvement, personalised experiences, and high-quality customer service.

How to Grow a Subscription Business: Final Tips

✔️ Pay Attention to Improving Business Processes

While any business dreams of global recognition, from our experience working with subscription businesses, Whistl found that the most successful subscription businesses focus on improving their business processes. According to research by Whistl, the top reasons consumers cited for stopping business with a brand include poor product quality (71%), high delivery costs (62%), inadequate customer support (58%), and missing or incorrect items delivered (54%). It is, therefore, crucial to get each of these elements right to help you realise your subscription business’s growth potential.

✔️ Identify and Rectify Weaknesses 

While acquiring and retaining customers profitably is a core element of growing your eCommerce subscription business, so is the effective procurement, storage, fulfilment and distribution of your physical goods. Streamlining your supply chain involves thoroughly reviewing every order management process to identify inefficiencies and gaps in service quality.

✔️ Enhance Your Product Offering

Optimising your supply chain starts with procuring the most sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective components for your physical goods (or services), raw materials, manufactured goods, or packaging.

✔️ Choose Between Outsourced and In-House Fulfilment

Once you have enhanced your procurement and product offering, you must decide whether to outsource fulfilment, keep it in-house, or adopt a hybrid fulfilment setup. If you decide that outsourcing eCommerce fulfilment for complete inventory management, picking, and packing is the right move for your subscription business, ensure you are working with an experienced provider who has dealt with subscription retailers.

Fulfilment houses typically offer a wide range of carrier options, helping you tailor a portfolio of delivery services to suit your customers’ levels of urgency, product diversity, value, dimensions, weight, and the destinations of your current and future ideal customers.

Subscription retailers that perform in-house fulfilment often work with a carrier management specialist to access preferential rates and additional in-flight options, accelerate their label production and benefit from more flexible collection times.

✔️ Utilise the Best Technology for Your Ecommerce Subscription Business

Whether you outsource your subscription retail business processes or do this in-house, getting your technology or ‘tech stack’ right is essential, such as:

• Inventory Planning Software

• Multichannel Order Management Systems (OMS), such as Brightpearl.

• Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) such as Mintsoft.

• Customer Experience Management (CEM) platforms such as Freshworks, Zendesk and eDesk.

These systems can help you better manage and synchronise your sales channels, such as marketplaces and your website, as well as your customer communications, including live chat, social media, email, and contact centre, all through a single platform.

Building a Subscription Business with Whistl

When starting or scaling your subscription business, it is crucial to partner with the most suitable partners that align with your business model and long-term objectives.

At the Whistl Group, we offer a unique portfolio of subscription fulfilment solutions to support the end-to-end logistics process. We help with all aspects of the customer journey, including order delivery management, complete fulfilment solutions, and even ongoing customer service.

If you're eager to grow your subscription business with the support of the leading UK fulfilment specialist, or you'd like to learn more about subscription models and how they can benefit your business, Whistl is here to help. Make an enquiry today to discuss your subscription business and how our services can optimise your offering.

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Updated July 2025