Amazon Subscribe & Save
Amazon Subscribe & Save (SnS) lets customers set up automatic, discounted deliveries of products they use up. For brands on Amazon, it turns one-time buyers into recurring orders without the customer leaving Amazon. It also gives you steadier demand to plan inventory against.
How it works
SnS removes the repurchase decision. The customer picks an interval (for example, every month or every three months) and the product ships automatically. Switching to a competitor means cancelling a subscription and setting up a new one, so many subscribers stay. Repeat orders from subscribers need no new ad spend, and the subscriber base makes demand easier to forecast.
How to do it
- Check which of your products are eligible in Seller Central or Vendor Central. SnS is aimed at consumable and replenishable categories such as personal care, supplements, pet food, household goods, and coffee.
- Read the current eligibility rules and discount options in Seller Central, since Amazon changes them over time.
- Choose a discount level you can afford on every order, not just the first one.
- Update the listing to make recurring use clear: say how long one unit lasts and add a bullet such as “Never run out of…”.
- Run Sponsored Products ads on subscribe-intent keywords (for example, “monthly vitamins” or “dog food subscription”).
- Track subscriptions created, cancellations, average subscription length, and the share of SnS orders versus one-time orders every month.
What to measure
- SnS share of orders: SnS orders divided by total orders, per product.
- Subscriber churn: subscriptions cancelled in a month divided by active subscriptions at the start of that month.
- Lifetime value, SnS vs one-time: revenue per SnS customer compared with revenue per one-time customer over the same period.
Best practices
- Pick a discount you can sustain on every recurring order.
- Write the listing so the expected delivery interval matches how long the product actually lasts.
- Use a stronger offer at launch to build a subscriber base, then reduce it as organic sign-ups grow.
- Read cancellations and reviews to find out why subscribers leave.
Common pitfalls
- Setting the discount too high. It applies to every order, so the margin loss compounds.
- Not looking at churn, so you never learn whether people leave over price, quality, or delivery timing.
- Running out of stock. Missed deliveries frustrate subscribers and can lead to cancellations.