Subscriptions are the holy grail if you get them right: recurring revenue from your best customers.

Gavin Ballard has spent 15 years tackling the hardest problems in the Shopify ecosystem, founded Disco Labs, and now runs Submarine — the platform powering subscriptions, memberships and pre-orders for some of the most complex Shopify brands out there.

This chat's timely - Gavin just got back from Sub Summit in Kansas City (the only conference dedicated entirely to subscription commerce), and Recharge just aquired Skio for $100M, a massive deal in thhe Shopify Subscriptions space.

We get into why slapping a "subscribe" button next to "add to cart" doesn't work anymore, what AI is actually unlocking (A/B testing your cancellation flows in real time, infinite personalisation segments that used to be impossible), and why you're not just competing with other Shopify subs — you're competing with Netflix, Spotify and every other line on your customer's recurring bill.

If you run a store, build apps, or you're an agency talking to merchants about retention — this one's loaded. Bonus: The Shopify Subscriptions Playbook goes with this episode.

Sponsor: The Support Heroes — trained Shopify support specialists who plug into your help desk, learn your brand voice, and handle your tickets like they actually give a shit. Tell them I sent you.

And one from me — Product Pelican. Audits your whole product catalog, finds the gaps — missing alt text, weak descriptions, uncategorised products, FAQ generation — and helps you fix them in bulk. Free to try or HMU for a demo!

In this episode

• What Gavin learned at Sub Summit in Kansas City
• Why "add subscribe button" isn't a subscription strategy
• You're competing with Netflix, not just other Shopify stores
• AI unlocking infinite personalisation segments
• A/B testing your cancellation flows in real time
• The Recharge–Skio deal and what it means
• Build vs buy your own subscription platform
• Memberships — the Qantas and Costco model
• How to actually get a subscription program off the roadmap

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:37 Recap of SubSummit Kansas City

4:34 Why merchants get subscriptions wrong

6:39 You're competing with Netflix, not other stores

8:04 AI in the subscription space

8:57 The personalisation segments AI unlocks

12:01 A/B testing your cancellation flows

13:39 Sponsor — The Support Heroes

13:59 The Recharge–Skio acquisition

15:49 Where Submarine sits in the new landscape

18:36 Build vs buy your subscription platform

21:29 Where AI actually adds value — connectors and custom logic

23:23 Membership programs vs subscriptions

24:03 The Costco & Qantas models

26:13 What makes a membership program actually work

27:55 How to get started if it's been on your roadmap for years

30:34 Wrap up

31:46 Product Pelican Promo