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Even if you haven’t heard the term “subscription economy” by now, you’ve probably already fully immersed it in your day-to-day life.

From Netflix to BlueApron, businesses everywhere are using subscription-based payment models to drive recurring revenue and lasting relationships with their customers. In fact, the subscription economy has grown 350 percent over the past seven years, and market experts predict that by 2023, 75% of organizations selling direct to consumers will offer subscription services.

That level of rapid growth cannot be ignored.

What is the Subscription Economy and Why is It Growing So Rapidly?

The term “subscription economy,” coined by Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo, is defined as a business model in which customers must pay a recurring fee at regular intervals — such as weekly, monthly, or yearly — in order to access a product or service. Unlike the product economy, which is built for one-time transactions, the subscription economy is a way for businesses to build loyal, long-term relationships with their customers.

“Everywhere we look we see new ways the Subscription Economy is expanding into new spheres and putting down deeper roots as a core part of the global economy,” says Carl Gold, Chief Data Scientist at Zuora. Others have claimed that every business will soon become a subscription-based business.

Undeniably, the subscription economy is one of the fastest growing business models the eCommerce world has ever seen.

Why Have Subscription-Based Payment Models Become So Popular?

Every business owner wants to know how to create more loyal, long-term relationships with their customers.

For many, the answer to that question lies in the subscription economy.

In other words, subscription models change the nature of customer relationships. The convenience, flexibility, and simplicity offered by subscription models is incredibly attractive to businesses and buyers alike. They not only establish guaranteed revenue streams at set intervals for the business, but also create a sticky, loyal connection between the business and the buyer.

Customer Loyalty

By tailoring your subscription plans and packages to your customers’ values and lifestyles, you can generate the most loyalty and the most revenue for your business. For example, you could offer student plans, family plans, or other flexible subscription-based plans and capture more customers than you would if you only offered one set package for every type of customer.

Reliable Revenue

Additionally, more and more businesses are moving to subscription payment processing models because they’re a great way to secure recurring, reliable revenue streams. If you have 500 customers paying $30 per month for a subscription, then you can set and anticipate your income every month based on those subscriptions, and it creates a much more stable method of growth for your business.

Simple Convenience

Shoppers, on the other hand, like subscription models because they’re simpler and more convenient. Rather than paying $120 upfront for a yearly plan, shoppers can make automated payments of $9.99 per month, and it makes it a much more palatable purchase.

At BlueSnap, we recognize that this is an extremely valuable payment model for both shoppers and businesses. That’s why we’ve developed a robust, feature-rich partnership with Zuora — we’ve become one of their most advanced payment gateway partners and can offer the most developed, flexible subscription and global payments functionality possible.

Power Global Subscription Payment Processing with the Zuora-BlueSnap Payment Gateway Integration

BlueSnap and Zuora have been integration partners for several years now, and thanks to significant enhancements, upgrades and innovation, BlueSnap is one of the top payment gateways that Zuora currently partners with. This top-tier partnership enables Zuora businesses to select BlueSnap as their subscription payment processing for their global payment needs — and offer a powerful customer experience along the way.

“Supporting our customers’ access to a wide array of payment methods and international banks is essential to their global growth in the Subscription Economy,” according to Chris Battles, Chief Product Officer of Zuora. “Partnering with BlueSnap helps our customers to take advantage of a $3.5 trillion global commerce opportunity.”

By pairing Zuora’s robust subscription engine with our powerful end-to-end payment gateway, businesses can offer a seamless subscription payment processing experience to their subscription customers. The integration includes:

Global Payment Capabilities
  • Connections to 30 global banks for maximum payment success and lower costs
  • Support for all major credit and debit cards and multiple currencies
  • Payment types from around the world, including ACH in the US, SEPA Direct Debit in the EU and LATAM card processing in Latin America for a flexible, localized shopping experience
  • 3D Secure 2.0 to provide Strong Customer Authentication, in accordance with PSD2
Advanced Technology
  • Quick, simple onboarding with no setup fees or long-term contracts
  • Built-in fraud protection technology from industry leader Kount, including integrated chargeback support that provides insight into and automated alerts for all chargebacks
  • Cutting-edge enhancements, including Account Updater, Level 2/3 card data processing and multi-partial refunds
  • Gateway reconciliation, which enables merchants to see all of BlueSnap’s in-depth payment data and reporting from within the Zuora dashboard for a true seamless user experience

We’re also always working to improve our product and offer the best possible experience to our customers — so we’re currently working on enhancing the functionality of the Zuora-BlueSnap integration by incorporating Apple Pay.

To learn more about the Zuora-BlueSnap integration, visit our API documentation or contact us to get started.

 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2019 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness

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