ChargeX Beyond was a 2-day event hosted by Recharge to bring merchants and agencies together to talk about one of the most powerful trends in digital commerce–subscriptions. Sunrise Integration is a proud partner of Recharge so I wanted to share my experience at the event.

Recharge is a Subscription and Recurring Payments platform that, as of their announcement at ChargeX, now includes Bundles, Rewards, Memberships, SMS messaging, and a fully redesigned and customizable customer account portal. 

These new features announced by the Recharge product team were right in line with the theme of the event, “Beyond”. Subscription programs have been widely adopted in the last few years by merchants and consumers, but the Recharge team is well aware that there are ways to improve and innovate with new features for merchants and shoppers alike. Among their announcements this year was a commitment to a public product roadmap which you can find here.

Thinking beyond Recharge for a moment, there were a few other takeaways from the event that I thought were worth sharing.

• Sustainability continues to be an important value in the ecommerce space, and subscription tools are in a unique position to make an impact. Consumers have long been tethered to weekly or monthly trips to a local store for the essentials - paper towels, toilet paper, diapers, cleaning products, etc. where they have a limited selection of brands that don’t necessarily prioritize the environment.  Brands like WhoGivesACrap and Hello Bello are great examples of subscription services that give consumers a more sustainable option with a best-in-class experience.

• The Sunrise Integration team is highly aware of the power of personalized medicine, nutraceuticals, supplements and diet. These brands were well represented at ChargeX and that is no surprise. Offering consumers the ability to bundle products, update orders and change delivery dates/locations are all critical to the success of any self-care or healthcare routine.

• The role of Retention Manager (or similar titles) seems to be more and more common. As most of the speakers at ChargeX would put it, LTV is king. Finding new customers is increasingly difficult and expensive. Investing in tools – and people – who specialize in keeping customers coming back appears to be a worthy cause for some of the largest and most successful brands.

By emphasizing community and inclusion, ChargeX Beyond created a great environment for learning and making connections with incredibly motivated individuals on the leading edge of digital commerce. Keep an eye out for next year’s ChargeX. The Recharge team has announced that it will be back on the west coast, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Want to learn how to leverage Recharge for your subscription business?  Looking to connect with us at events and conferences? Give us a shout.