Custom store with subscriptions for ice cream and nutrition: Almafit

Almafit sells ice cream and nutrition products, and its model is not one-off orders: it sells a subscription. The customer chooses what they want to receive and how often, and it arrives at home with automatic billing. That difference changes the whole store, so it was built from scratch on PHP.

The result: customers manage their own subscription, packs and coupons to acquire and retain, one-off purchases as an entry point and cold-chain logistics for a perishable product. The project was delivered in over three months, with 90% more repeat customers and 28% lower logistics costs.

The challenge: selling a perishable product by subscription

A subscription store is not a regular store with a checkbox that says "subscribe". When a customer buys once, everything ends with the order; when they subscribe, the sale starts there: you have to charge again next month, prepare a shipment you already know will exist and give the customer a simple way to stop whenever they want.

Billing has to repeat on its own

Recurring billing is the piece holding the model up and also the one that shows most when it fails: an expired card, a declined charge with no notice or a renewal that does not go through are silent cancellations. The store has to charge on its own, warn the customer and keep the status of every subscription clear for both the customer and the business.

The customer has to be able to stop without friction

Nobody subscribes to something they cannot cancel. Being able to pause for a month, change the product, adjust the frequency or cancel from the account itself is what separates a subscription that lasts from one cancelled in month two. If cancelling means writing an email, the customer cancels the fast way: with a complaint.

Cold rules the shipping

Ice cream and perishable products do not travel like a book: refrigerated shipping sets which days you deliver, how orders are grouped and what each delivery costs. Logistics stops being an afterthought at the end and becomes a product decision that shapes the store from day one.

The solution: a store built from scratch on PHP

The whole store was built from scratch on PHP and MySQL. The reason is that the business is not in the catalog, it is in the recurrence: how you charge every month, what the customer can do with their subscription, how packs and coupons combine and how a cold delivery chain is planned. These are interlocking rules, and they are implemented exactly as defined.

Subscription with automatic billing

The customer subscribes to a product or a combination and the store renews and charges on its own on the right date, with the status of every subscription visible in their account. For the business that means predictable income; for the customer, not having to remember to buy again.

The customer is in charge of their subscription

From their account they can pause, change the product or the frequency and cancel without depending on anyone. And whoever does not want a subscription still buys: one-off purchases live alongside subscriptions in the same store, which is the best entry point to the model.

Packs and coupons to acquire and retain

Promotional packs group products at a fixed price, and coupons and discounts work both for the first purchase and to reward loyalty. In a recurring business, promotions are not decoration: they are the lever that gets people to try and then to stay.

How we implemented it in over three months

The project started with the subscription, not the store: the full cycle was solved first — sign-up, billing, renewal, pause, change, cancellation and notifications — and the visible part was built on top. Then the cold delivery chain was connected, which is where a perishable product forces decisions.

The subscription cycle first, the store afterwards

A full cycle with its renewals was tested before signing off the store: sign-up, the monthly charge, changing a product mid-cycle, pausing and cancelling. Those are the paths a customer really walks, and the ones that leave money on the table when they fail.

Cold logistics: grouping orders and planning delivery

With demand known in advance, delivery is planned instead of improvised: orders are grouped by date and area, and every shipment leaves with what it needs to arrive in good condition. That is the part explaining the drop in logistics costs: fewer single shipments and fewer returns.

Results

The store was delivered working, with subscriptions live and delivery running. These were the needs of the project and how they were solved:

The measured results of the project: 90% more repeat customers and 28% lower logistics costs. The two figures go together: when customers can manage their subscription without writing to anyone, they stop leaving over friction; and when delivery is planned around demand you already know, you stop paying for shipments that were not needed.

What a subscription store needs

If you are thinking of selling by subscription, these are the points that decide whether the model holds:

• Reliable recurring billing: a charge that fails with no notice is a cancellation you never see coming.
• Customer self-service: pause, change and cancel without writing to anyone.
• Notifications before each shipment, so the customer knows what is coming and when.
• One-off purchases as an entry point for those not ready to subscribe yet.
• Packs and coupons for the first purchase and to reward loyalty.
• Logistics solved from the start, especially if the product needs cold.

If your model is not one-off orders, our services page explains how we work, and you can write to us to go through it together.

Frequently asked questions

What changes when you sell by subscription instead of one-off orders?

That the sale stops being an isolated event and becomes income that repeats: you have to charge on its own every month, warn the customer before each shipment, let them pause or change it and plan logistics around demand you already know in advance. It is a different model, not one more checkbox in the cart.

How does the customer manage their own subscription?

From their account: they can pause it, change the product or the frequency and cancel it without writing to anyone. It is the piece that decides whether the model works, because a subscription that can only be cancelled by email ends up in quick cancellations and complaints.

Why does cold-chain logistics shape the whole store?

Because the product is perishable: refrigerated shipping sets which days you deliver, how orders are grouped and what each delivery costs. Once cold enters the equation, logistics stops being an afterthought and becomes a product decision that has to be solved from the start.

How long does a store with subscriptions take?

This project was delivered in over three months. What sets the schedule is not the store, it is the recurring side: automatic billing, changes and cancellations, shipment notifications and testing a full cycle with its renewals.