Selling subscriptions on your website is an effective way to generate recurring revenue from your audience. Drupal Commerce is a popular open-source platform that allows you to create a subscription-based e-commerce website. With Drupal Commerce, you can easily set up subscription-based products, manage customer subscriptions, and accept recurring payments. In this article, we will guide you on how to use Drupal Commerce to sell subscriptions.
Table of Contents
Understanding Drupal Commerce
Drupal Commerce is a flexible and customizable e-commerce platform built on top of Drupal, a popular content management system. It is designed to handle complex e-commerce scenarios, including subscriptions, digital downloads, and physical products. Drupal Commerce allows you to create customizable product and order workflows, manage customers and their orders, and provide customers with secure payment options.
Installing Drupal Commerce
To create a subscription-based website using Drupal Commerce, you need to have a Drupal 8 or Drupal 9 installation with the Commerce module installed. If you don’t have Drupal installed, you can download a pre-configured Drupal Commerce installation package that includes Drupal and the Commerce module.
Once you have Drupal installed, you can install the Commerce module through the Drupal admin interface. Go to the Extend page, click on "Install new module", select "Install from URL", and enter the URL for the Commerce module. Drupal will download the module and install it.
Setting up Subscription Products
The first step in selling subscriptions on your website is to set up subscription products. In Drupal Commerce, you can create subscription products as a product type. From the Drupal admin interface, go to the "Manage" menu and select "Product types". Click on "Add product type" and select "Subscription product".
On the subscription product form, you can define the subscription period, the subscription price, and the product image. You can also set up product variations for different subscription levels and pricing. When you save the subscription product, it will be available for purchase on your website.
Managing Customer Subscriptions
After a customer purchases a subscription product, you need to manage the customer’s subscription. Drupal Commerce provides a subscription management interface to help you manage customer subscriptions. From the Drupal admin interface, go to the "Customers" menu and select "Subscriptions".
On the subscriptions page, you can see a list of all active subscriptions. You can view details of each subscription, including the subscription period, the subscription price, and the customer’s payment information. You can also cancel or renew subscriptions from this page.
Accepting Recurring Payments
To accept recurring payments for subscription products, you need to set up a payment gateway. Drupal Commerce supports multiple payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. From the Drupal admin interface, go to the "Configuration" menu and select "Payment gateways".
On the payment gateways page, you can add a new payment gateway and configure its settings. You can choose which payment methods to accept and configure the payment gateway credentials. Once the payment gateway is set up, customers can purchase subscription products and have their payments automatically processed on a recurring basis.
Conclusion
Selling subscriptions on your website is a lucrative way to generate recurring revenue. With Drupal Commerce, you can easily create subscription-based products, manage customer subscriptions, and accept recurring payments. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can use Drupal Commerce to sell subscriptions and grow your business.