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               |  | The Right Solution for Subscription Products and Services |  |  Introduction to  subscription productsSubscription products can be approached as either a regularly scheduled service, software or products with recurring billing. Either way, it's a fast growing industry; Gartner Research estimates that the subscription product industry will continue to grow in size to nearly $22.1 billion in 2015.
 Modular Merchant's ecommerce shopping cart software   is tailored to run an online store with automated recurring billing that increases subscriber retention and encourages customer loyalty. The benefit to your business will be immediate. Subscription products can be used to manage: 
            
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                  Automated monthly billing and installment billingSaaS (Software as a Service) service agreementsFree trial offers for products and servicesClub memberships or wholesale discountsPre-orders — collect billing info today, invoice when readyMembers-only websites — restrict access to subscribers |  Subscription processing ties all your web
 content together into a profitable system.
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 Benefits of a shopping cart with Automated Recurring BillingAn ecommerce platform that integrates automated recurring billing makes it easy and  convenient to create and manage  subscription-based transactions. Using the shopping cart's subscription features consolidates everything under one roof, enhancing customer service and encouraging loyalty; while reducing  declined transactions and overall administrative costs. Other benefits include:
 
            Simple SetupSimply create a product and give it a billing amount and schedule. The shopping cart does the rest, generating ongoing transactions based on the product's schedule.
 
Efficient EcommerceOnce a subscription begins, no additional labor is involved through the life of the subscription. A subscription's pricing and billing schedule can also be customized.
Financial FlexibilityProvide your customers with a no-hassle billing system that matches their payment preference, whether that would be a credit card, eCheck, PayPal or Google Checkout.
 
Real Cost SavingsAutomated recurring billing eliminates many of the costs associated with manual billing, plus, unlike other shopping carts and payment gateway processors, there's no  per-transaction fee or additional service to buy with Modular Merchant. Support for subscription products are included with  every account plan.
 The right shopping cart software will provide much more flexibility and control over the management and processing of subscriptions, both to the business owner and the customer.
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            | Recurring billing is perfect for website memberships, supplements, service contracts, newsletters, product-of-the-month clubs... any recurring transaction! Some of the common uses for subscription products that our clients use include:
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      | Unlike some third-party services that charge on a per-transaction basis, Modular Merchant allows you to have unlimited members and subscriptions at no additional charge. There's also nothing extra you need to add to your merchant account. Modular Merchant manages the recurring billing for you! | 
   
      |  | No fee for creating a queue of customer transactions Some shopping carts charge  a per-transaction fee. Some even charge a per-transaction fee when pending subscriptions are created — even if those transactions are never processed! Imagine how quickly transaction fees for 100 monthly subscribers would accumulate!
 Modular Merchant doesn't charge per-transaction fees; not when subscriptions are created nor when they're processed. | 
   
      |  | Nothing extra to set up in your merchant account Some merchant accounts allow you to set up recurring billing schedules within the merchant account itself... for an extra monthly fee, of course.
 But with Modular Merchant, subscriptions are managed in the shopping cart; only the final transactions are sent to the merchant account, so no extra setup or processing fees are incurred by the merchant account. | 
   
      |  | Automated payment processing When a subscription becomes due, the software automatically processes the order and reschedules the subscriber's next order for the appropriate date. There's no need to process each order manually when it becomes due.
 Subscriptions can also be put on hold until a future date, or rescheduled at any time in your account's administration area. | 
   
      |  | Automatic follow-up emails for declined orders and order receipts If your merchant account declines a subscription an email containing the reason for the declined order can automatically sent to both the subscriber and you.
 This email — and all store-generated emails — can be customized. | 
   
      |  | Free Tech Support and software updates for the lifetime of your account Modular Merchant is ready and listening with free support by phone, email, support tickets, and a knowledge base!
 Plus, Modular Merchant's shopping cart software is continually being updated, expanded and improved. Free software updates are released every 2-4 weeks to all clients. Each update installs automatically for you in the background. | 
   
      |  | Complete shopping cart software solution: Manage customers, products, sales, subscriptions, shipping! Subscriptions are just one component of Modular Merchant's shopping cart software. It  includes a full suite of tools to manage products, orders, customers, shipping, coupons, promotions and more.
 Modular Merchant is more than just a scheduled transaction processor — it's a complete shopping cart software solution!  |