Supplement regimens, self-care rituals, and intimate wellness essentials all run out on a schedule. Sell health and wellness subscriptions on Shopify by billing that schedule: delivery every 30, 60, or 90 days, product swaps, and a portal where subscribers skip or pause without emailing you.
Start Free
75%
of Americans take dietary supplements - the base every refill plan sells into
$6.8T
global wellness economy in 2024, after growing 7.9% in a single year
4.75
products the average health & wellness subscriber keeps on subscription at once
1M+
women in the U.S. experience menopause every year, each one a new recurring need
Wellness is bought on repeat by design. A regimen only works uninterrupted, a self-care ritual repeats every few weeks, and an intimate wellness staple runs out on its own schedule. Recurring orders match how the category is actually consumed.
A supplement only does its job when it is taken for months without a gap. The customer's goal and the reorder schedule point the same direction, which is rare in retail.
Capsules, oils, and lubricants carry expiry dates, and over-ordering writes off stock that cannot be resold. A known subscriber count tells you how many units to make and when.
Acquisition in this category is expensive and often blocked outright. Revenue that renews without a new ad impression is worth more here than in categories that can simply buy traffic.
A three-month prepaid course matches the window most regimens are sold in, and collects the cash up front instead of hoping the customer re-decides at day thirty.
A 30-count bottle and a 90-day supply do not want the same ship date. Set delivery every 30, 60, or 90 days per plan, and let subscribers move their own next charge from the portal when a bottle lasts longer than you predicted.
Sleep, immunity, and recovery stacks sell as one plan instead of three separate charges. Build a fixed bundle at a set price, or a dynamic subscription box where the subscriber picks their own four or five products each cycle and swaps one out next month.
Subscribers get an upcoming-order notice before the card is charged, so a shipment they do not need yet gets skipped instead of refunded. Send it from your own sender address and your own SMTP, so what lands in the inbox carries your store name.
Subscribers skip, pause, swap a product, change frequency, or update a card themselves - no email to your team about a product they would rather not discuss. When someone does head for cancel, a cancellation flow offers a pause or a longer interval first.
An expired card ends a two-year regimen quietly. Switch on dunning and failed charges retry on a set schedule while the subscriber gets a prompt to update their payment method - and for markets where most orders are not prepaid, cash on delivery is supported as well.
FAQ
Yes. Both models run side by side in Joy Subscriptions. A daily multivitamin can sell as subscribe and save on the product page, while a quarterly self-care box sells as a fixed or dynamic subscription box with its own plan, price, and cadence. Subscribers to either one land in the same portal.
Update the products on the subscription plan before the next billing date, and subscribers receive whatever is current when their order processes. For a box where contents rotate - a spring reset, a winter recovery edition - swaps let subscribers choose between this cycle's options instead of receiving something they will not use.
Match the interval to the count on the label. A 30-count bottle wants 30 days, a 90-count wants 90 - and a four-week interval on a 30-day supply quietly overships once a year. Self-care goods are slower and less exact: every six to eight weeks suits candles and bath products. Offer at least three intervals and let subscribers move their own date.
Inserts are handled in fulfillment, not in the subscription app - Joy does not touch what goes in the box. Wellness brands commonly add a dosage guide or a how-to-use card, and it earns its place: a subscriber who knows how to use the product is a subscriber who keeps it. For sensitive categories, keep the insert inside the mailer, not on it.
Two different jobs. For replenishment - supplements, lubricants, refills - a 10–15% subscribe and save discount is standard, and convenience does most of the selling. For a curated box, price at two to three times your cost of goods including packaging and shipping, and make sure the retail value inside visibly beats the price. Most wellness boxes land between $30 and $60 a month.
Packaging is a fulfillment decision - plain outer mailers and a return address without product wording are set by you and your 3PL, not by the subscription app. The billing descriptor comes from your payment provider and your Shopify account name. What Joy controls is the email: order and renewal notices go out under your store name, from a sender address and SMTP you configure.
Three things, and none of them are the app's job. Disclose the price, the cadence, and the renewal terms before the customer agrees. Get clear consent to recurring charges. Make cancelling at least as easy as signing up. Joy handles the billing schedule and gives subscribers self-service cancel and pause; your product pages, plan descriptions, and claims still need to meet FDA and FTC rules on your side.
Put the stack on one plan if they all run out together - a fixed bundle charges once and ships once, which keeps shipping cost down. If the cadences genuinely differ, give each product its own subscription and its own interval. Subscribers swap products from the portal as the regimen changes, without cancelling and starting over.
