Product bundling
DEFINITION
Product bundling groups multiple individual products or services together and sells them as a single offering, often at a combined price and often as a recurring subscription.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RELATED TERMS
Product bundling groups multiple individual products or services together and sells them as a single offering, often at a combined price. Instead of a customer purchasing each item separately, a bundle packages them into one purchase decision, and often one recurring subscription.
Expanded meaning
Bundles generally take one of a few shapes. A product bundle puts individual items together as a package, typically sold at a discount off buying each item separately. A component bundle combines multiple items into a new, single product, the way individual parts come together into a custom build. A collection bundle lets a customer mix and match from a set of products to build their own combination, which works well for items sold in bulk.
In Recurly Commerce, a bundle is built around a parent bundle product. That parent product must stand alone on its subscription plan: a plan built around a bundle cannot also include additional, non-bundle products. From there, a bundle supports two purchase models: a one-time purchase, which is a single non-recurring sale, or Subscribe & Save, a recurring subscription with optional discounted pricing.
Why it matters
Bundling changes the purchase decision from several small transactions into one larger one, which tends to increase average order value. It also affects retention: a customer is less likely to cancel a single item buried inside a bundle than they are to cancel a single standalone subscription, since doing so means giving up the whole package rather than one product.
Bundling also makes product discovery easier for customers, since merchants can use collections to expose customers to more products, and it incentivizes subscribers to add more products to their bundle to unlock a higher discount.
Getting bundle configuration right also protects the customer experience.
How to use
Create a subscription offer for the bundle and enter internal information, such as the offer group name and description, for internal tracking only.
Attach a parent bundle product to the offer. This is the bundle's SKU in the Shopify catalog, the item the subscription attaches to and what the customer is buying. A bundle product must stand alone on its subscription plan; additional, non-bundle products cannot be added to the same plan.
Configure the purchase options: one-time purchase for a single non-recurring sale, or Subscribe & Save for a recurring subscription with optional discounted pricing.
Customize the subscription experience: define swaps and add-ons customers can use to change what is in the bundle, set discounts based on order frequency or item quantity, enable free shipping if desired, set contract terms such as a minimum commitment, and define a cancellation flow with any retention steps. As part of this step, the merchant specifies one or more product collections, which determine what customers can select in the bundle, and sets whether the bundle uses a fixed price or a flexible price that depends on which products the customer selects.
Publish the offer to make the bundle available to customers.
Benefits and examples
A subscription box built as a product bundle packages several individual items together at a lower combined price than buying each one separately.
A collection bundle lets a customer mix and match from a set of eligible products, useful for goods typically sold in bulk.
Recurly differentiators
Recurly Commerce bundles are built around a parent bundle product that must stand alone on its subscription plan, keeping bundle logic separate from standard single-product plans rather than mixing the two on one offer. Bundles support both a one-time purchase model and a Subscribe & Save recurring model on the same offer, along with configurable swaps and add-ons, quantity- or frequency-based discounts, free shipping, contract terms, and a defined cancellation flow.
Bundles are also compatible with gifting and with subscription pausing: if the Pause Subscription feature is enabled in Customer Portal settings, customers can pause a bundle subscription under the same pause logic, such as duration limits and resume dates, that applies to any other subscription.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a product bundle and an add-on? A product bundle packages multiple products together as one purchasable offering. An add-on is an additional charge attached to an existing subscription plan, billed alongside the base charge, rather than a standalone package of products.
Can customers gift a bundle subscription? Yes, bundles are compatible with gifting. Enabling and configuring gift options for a bundle requires contacting Recurly support for setup assistance.
Can a customer pause a bundle subscription? Yes, if the Pause Subscription feature is enabled in Customer Portal settings. Standard pause logic, including duration limits and resume dates, applies to bundle subscriptions the same way it applies to other subscriptions.
Can a bundle include products from outside the bundle's own plan? No. A bundle product must stand alone on its subscription plan, and additional, non-bundle products cannot be added to the same plan as a bundle.
