Mixed Cart: Subscriptions & One-Time Purchases

Mixed cart checkout: Boost sales and delight customers

Matthew Calhoun
Content marketing and SEO manager

Customers today demand flexibility when shopping online. For subscription businesses, enabling a simplified purchase of both recurring and one-time products in a single transaction can be a big win for both customers and merchants. Mixed cart checkout enhances the customer experience, drives higher average order value (AOV), strengthens retention, and opens up diverse revenue opportunities.

In this article, we’ll explore how mixed cart checkout works, why it matters, and how Recurly makes it easy to implement.

💡 Key takeaways

What is mixed cart checkout?

Mixed cart checkout allows customers to combine one-time purchases and subscription-based products in the same shopping cart, completing their transaction in one simple process. So, what does this actually look like?

Meet Sarah: Sarah, a fitness enthusiast who frequents her local gym is looking to renew her monthly gym membership and purchase a single bag of protein powder from the gym’s online store.

Here’s how mixed cart checkout benefits her:

  1. Sarah adds her monthly gym membership subscription to her shopping cart.
  2. She then chooses a one-time purchase of her favorite protein powder.
  3. At checkout, both items are consolidated into a single transaction, allowing her to pay for both simultaneously without needing separate orders.

This simplified process saves Sarah time and effort while enhancing her shopping experience, and earned the gym a bump in revenue.

The business case for mixed cart usage

The many benefits of offering mixed cart support - for both shoppers and merchants - make it a winning ecommerce tactic worth exploring.

1. Increased average order value (AOV)

Mixed carts are a powerful way to boost sales by encouraging customers to add high-margin or additional items to their orders. This strategy uses upselling and cross-selling techniques to boost revenue, whether through subscriptions or one-time purchases.

Why it works:

2. Try before you buy

For many customers, trying a product before committing to yet another subscription is an appealing prospect. Mixed cart functionality makes this concept easy and attractive. Customers can add items to their subscription as one-time purchases before fully diving in. This “try-and-see” model allows subscribers to test new products risk-free — turning impulse add-ons into essential parts of their routine. Mixed cart also allows users to take advantage of trials for subscriptions.

3. Diversified revenue streams

Ecommerce businesses relying solely on one-time purchases or subscriptions often face seasonal revenue volatility. Incorporating both options with mixed cart checkout allows businesses to smooth out revenue dips and create more predictable growth over time.

4. Increase customer loyalty

Customers want a quick, stress-free shopping experience. Mixed cart checkouts allow them to buy single items and subscriptions in one go, which leads to reduced cart abandonment, and increased loyalty. Customers are more likely to stick with a business that provides them an easy and simple checkout process.

Mixed cart functionality gives you the flexibility to provide customers with more options while keeping their buying process easy and efficient.

Challenges of implementing mixed cart checkouts

While the benefits of mixed carts are undeniable, integrating this functionality successfully comes with its challenges.

1. Creating a simple checkout experience

A seamless checkout for mixed carts is a major challenge for ecommerce businesses. The stakes are high: 22% of users abandon carts due to long and complicated checkouts, according to the Baymard Institute. Oftentimes companies are stuck with:

2. Choosing the right pricing plans

Offering the right subscription options can make all the difference in driving signups and boosting customer lifetime value (LTV).

Why it matters:

3. Knowing your audience

Every customer base is unique. While some audiences may value subscriptions for everyday essentials, others might prefer to make sporadic, one-off purchases. Conduct customer surveys, analyze purchasing data, and beta-test product offerings to find the right balance.

What you’ll need for mixed cart success

Implementing mixed cart checkouts requires the right technology, insights, and strategy. Here’s what to focus on:

1. A flexible tech stack

To successfully sell subscriptions and one-time purchases, ecommerce businesses need a modular tech stack. This allows them to combine technology to make for a better customer experience. Here's how to achieve it:

2. Smart product pairings

Mixed carts provide invaluable insights into customer preferences. By tracking how often products are purchased as one-time buys versus subscriptions, you can refine your offerings. You can then use this data to introduce new bundles, optimize pricing strategies, and identify which products resonate most with your audience.

Consider your bundle type

However, the right product pairing isn’t enough — you need the right bundle strategy to maximize revenue. There are several options to consider:

Strategies to ensure mixed cart success

While mixed cart checkout is a necessity for most ecommerce businesses, that doesn’t mean it will automatically be successful.

Ready for mixed cart checkout for your Shopify store?

Looking for a no-code solution to manage your Shopify subscriptions and drive growth? Recurly’s Shopify app empowers you to create the perfect tech stack to accelerate your success with ease.

Find out more at Recurly for Shopify .