Recurly Gives Subscription Firms Better App Visibility

Subscription management firm Recurly has added an app management tool to its platform.

The new capability makes it easier for customers to sync subscription data from the Apple App Store and Google Play into Recurly for “reliable cross-platform analytics” while enhancing other features, per a Tuesday (April 25) press release.

“Subscription companies have struggled with limited visibility into subscriber data across app stores and web. Recurly app management standardizes data, provides cross-platform insights and enables revenue recognition for all subscriptions,” Recurly Co-founder and CEO Dan Burkhart said in the release. “This enables our customers to better optimize their business across all platforms.”

According to the release, offering cross-platform analytics help subscription businesses optimize recurring revenue streams, enhance the subscriber experience and increase efficiencies.

And with cross-platform data, APIs and webhooks, important features such as entitlements, analytics, revenue recognition and automated workflows “can happen across app stores and web,” Recurly said.

The company is rolling out its new capability at a time when the “subscription bubble that formed during the pandemic is bursting in slow motion,” as PYMNTS noted earlier this month.

That’s because consumers are still scaling back on their streaming entertainment and retail subscriptions amid continued economic pressure.

It’s a trend that has been building, as covered in “The Subscription Commerce Conversion Index: Subscribers Seek Affordability and Convenience,” a PYMNTS and sticky.io collaboration. That study found two-thirds of retail shoppers were spending less on “nice-to-have” products toward the end of 2022 than they did when inflation began skyrocketing early last year.

With that in mind, just 1 out of every 4 retail subscribers say they would prioritize subscription payments over basics like mobile phones and credit cards if forced to choose which payment to make.

When that study was released, 22% of subscribers said would very likely cancel one or more subscriptions in the next year, with 21% more saying they somewhat likely to do so.

That’s already begun, with more recent PYMNTS data showing that consumers have roughly halved the number of subscriptions they have versus the COVID-era peak.

Yet not all subscriptions are in trouble. As Petco Senior Vice President of Omnichannel Experience Jenny Wolski said in an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, the retailer’s Vital Care memberships are going strong.

“Depending on what type of pet you have, you save hundreds of dollars every year by having the plan, even though you’re paying a monthly fee,” Wolski told Webster.