Subscriptions — recurring orders
In one sentence
Subscriptions run standing orders — like a daily newspaper, milk, or tiffin — with automatic delivery schedules, WhatsApp reminders, a prepaid wallet, and easy skip/pause controls for your customers.
Who this is for
Any business that delivers the same thing on a repeating schedule:
- 🥛 A dairy delivering milk every morning
- 🍱 A kitchen sending lunch tiffins on weekdays
- 📰 A newspaper or magazine round
- 🧺 A laundry pickup every Tuesday
How it’s different from Commerce
Don’t confuse this with Commerce. Commerce = show a catalog and take one-off orders in a chat. Subscriptions = automated recurring deliveries with a schedule and a prepaid wallet. They even each have their own “products” — unrelated to each other.
| Commerce | Subscriptions | |
|---|---|---|
| Order type | One-off | Recurring / standing |
| Schedule | None | Daily / weekdays / custom days |
| Payment | However you like, per order | Prepaid wallet + optional autopay |
| Customer self-service | Browse & cart in chat | A public storefront page |
The big picture
The building blocks (you’ll meet each in detail)
| Piece | What it is |
|---|---|
| Product | A deliverable item (e.g. “1 litre milk”). |
| Plan | A package of products on a schedule (e.g. “Daily milk”). |
| Delivery window | When you deliver (e.g. “6–8 a.m.”). |
| Subscription | One customer’s active standing order. |
| Cycle | A single day’s delivery within a subscription. |
| Wallet | The customer’s prepaid balance that each delivery draws from. |
| Storefront | The public page where customers sign up. |
The rest of this chapter
- Setting it up — products, plans, delivery windows, settings.
- How a customer subscribes — the storefront + OTP.
- The delivery cycle — how each day’s delivery flows.
- The prepaid wallet — top-ups, debits, and balance.
- Pausing & skipping — customer and merchant controls.
- Your public storefront — branding and your link.
- Autopay — automatic wallet top-ups via Razorpay.
Next: set it up →.