Best Platform for Personalised Subscription Business

[Michael Wickham]

Hi all,

I'm looking at setting up an e-commerce subscription site and wondering if anyone can recommend the best platform to use (I'm not a coder or site developer in the slightest). I know that ultimately I might need to get something bespoke built, but to test the concept I want to make my own with an out of the box solution.
I've played around with shopify, lemonstand, subbly AND cratejoy, but none seem to offer what I think is pretty basic functionality for a subscription site - being able to add personal preferences. For example I want the user to be able to enter details like their clothing size, favourite colours etc. Some of the platforms I've mentioned do allow you to add a questionnaire when you're purchasing the subscription, but then it doesn't look like the user is ever able to go in to their account and make changes to these preferences. Can anyone help!?

Thanks in advance
Mike

 

[Andy777]

Hello Mike & Welcome!

Happy New Year!

I don't think you will find a solution that does what you describe out of the box.. I think your best bet is to go with a shopping cart that has options to code this functionality in it at the most reasonable price possible.

You can write a quick summary on what you want to achieve and post a project for it on Upwork to get bids and ideas on how much it will cost. This won't cost anything to you and is a great way to project a budget for any kind of coding job.

 

[mattk]

Within Spotify you can add custom fields to the customer registration page. These can be text, radio buttons or dropdown lists.

I've not used them myself, but it looks simple enough and sounds as if it will meet your requirements.

https://help.shopify.com/en/themes/...e-information-with-customer-registration-form

 

[fisicx]

All that does is register the data. It's not then used in the product filters.

What @Michael Wickham wants (I think) is a way to add personal preferences to a profile and for the platform to then display products that meet those preferences.

It's easily doable but not in the best commercial interest of the seller to limit the product they display.

 

[tylerwood377]

happy new Year
WordPress platform is easy to make site

 

[Taron K]

The WordPress environment with the correct plugins (S2Member, BuddyPress) is a route to consider. You will find good freelancers on FIverr with the correct experience who should be able to build it for you in less than 500 quid. Membershipguys.com is a good resource if you haven't come across it yet.

 

[fisicx]

That's not what the OP wants. It's not about membership, it's about filtering products to match a user profile. Adding a membership plugin isn't going to fix anything.

 

[mattk]

My interpretation was more along the Fabletics/Glossybox type model, where you say your size, preferences etc. and get sent products which meet those attributes on a monthly basis.

Requirements unclear.

 

[fisicx]

Either way, it still needs a filter between the preferences and the products. A membership/subscription plugin or extension won't do this for you.

 

[mattk]

He'd better come back and clarify what he is trying to achieve. I don't think I can stand the suspense.

 

[Michael Wickham]

Hi guys, thanks for the info. @mattk, you are correct, it's about the user being able to add their preferences (size, colouts etc) and then we can customise their subscription box with items that will fit and meet their needs. There in fact won't need to be multiple products displayed on the site - initially it will actually be one product (the subscription box) but the point is that different users would receive boxes with slightly different contents as it would be tailored to them. Hope I'm making sense.

I did in fact post the project on a freelance site so am most likely going to go down this route!

 

[fisicx]

Aha! That all makes a lot more sense.

And because it's a subscription box you don't need ecommerce all all. Or a membership plugin. There are loads of ways to do what you want. I've built a number of sites over the years that do very similar. Hopefully the freelancer site will deliver but I'm not hopeful. They are great at the sausage factory stuff but not so good at the bespoke.

 

[Michael Wickham]

@fisicx what would be your recommendation on sourcing someone to do the bespoke then?
Cheers
Mike

 

[Alan]

Remember, pay peanuts, you get monkeys. What ever platform or method you use to find a developer, any developer unable to command $60/hour £45/hour is likely to not be that high a quality.

 

[fisicx]

Tender the project. Don't contract on price, contract on ability.

Many of those who bid on freelancer sites will promise the earth without the skills to deliver.

The features you need are:

1. Account creation/management
2. Preferences
3. Personalized subscription box page (showing what's in the box)
4. Means to change the box contents

Everything after that is independent of the website (picking and packing in your warehouse)

 

[Andy777]

Hi guys, thanks for the info. @mattk, you are correct, it's about the user being able to add their preferences (size, colouts etc) and then we can customise their subscription box with items that will fit and meet their needs. There in fact won't need to be multiple products displayed on the site - initially it will actually be one product (the subscription box) but the point is that different users would receive boxes with slightly different contents as it would be tailored to them. Hope I'm making sense.

I did in fact post the project on a freelance site so am most likely going to go down this route!

If it's just one product and a monthly payment subscription via PayPal or card, then using Wordpress will be the cheapest option. I think you could manage it without paying anything extra by using free membership plugin, free cart and some other plugins.

 

[kev598]

I'm wondering why no one hasn't mentioned Drupal. It is an Open Source, and it is great to use for such unusual eCommerce site.

However, if you look at WordPress, I agree it is yet good and affordable for a start.

 

[evhow90]

I really like Woocommerce Subscriptions, but there are some platforms where you can easily set up and sell.