Choosing between Build-a-Box and volume discounts

Build-a-Box and volume discounts both help you encourage larger orders and offer flexible product selection, but they're designed for different business models and customer experiences. Understanding when to use each feature ensures you're setting up a subscription flow that supports both profitability and customer satisfaction.

What's the difference between Build-a-Box and volume discounts?

Build-a-Box creates a structured subscription where customers select multiple products upfront, and those products stay bundled together in the portal. It enforces minimum order quantities or values to protect your margins and prevents customers from dropping below those thresholds after subscribing.

Volume discounts reward customers for adding more products to their subscription without enforcing minimums or locking products together. Customers can split, merge, and manage individual products independently based on their consumption patterns, while still receiving tiered discounts as they add more items.

When to use Build-a-Box

Build-a-Box works best when shipping costs or product economics require you to enforce minimum order values or quantities. Use Build-a-Box if:

• Your margins depend on order minimums. For example, if you sell individual protein bars and shipping costs make orders under 4 units unprofitable, Build-a-Box prevents customers from reducing their subscription below that threshold.

• You need to enforce a minimum order value. If orders below $50 result in losses due to shipping or fulfillment costs, Build-a-Box ensures customers maintain that minimum even as they customize their selection.

• Product bundling is core to your business model. If your value proposition depends on customers receiving a curated box or set of products together, Build-a-Box keeps those items locked as a single subscription.

Choosing between Dynamic and Static Build-a-Box

If you've determined Build-a-Box is the right fit for your business, you'll need to decide between dynamic and static box types. Dynamic boxes enforce minimums based on quantity or revenue thresholds and allow customers to swap products freely within those constraints. Static boxes offer predefined product combinations with fixed selections that customers can't modify after purchase.

Learn more about the differences and how to choose in our guide on choosing between Build-a-Box types.

Build-a-Box creates a more rigid subscription structure in the Customer Portal. Customers can swap products within their box, but they can't split products into separate subscriptions with different frequencies or drop below your defined minimums.

When to use volume discounts

Volume discounts work best when you want to encourage larger orders through incentives rather than constraints. Use volume discounts if:

• Your products have different consumption cycles. If customers use some products daily and others a few times per week, they need the flexibility to split subscriptions and adjust frequencies independently without losing their discount benefits.

• Single-product subscriptions are profitable. If your business model supports customers subscribing to just one product without margin concerns, volume discounts let them start small and expand naturally over time.

• You want to encourage order consolidation without forcing it. Volume discounts paired with features like auto-merge and Klaviyo notifications let you educate customers about the benefits of combining orders (like unlocking discounts or reducing shipping frequency) without preventing them from managing products separately.

• You sell supplements or products with varied usage patterns. Most supplement companies benefit from volume discounts because customers naturally consume different products at different rates and need independent frequency control.

Volume discounts create a flexible subscription structure in the customer portal. Customers can add products to unlock higher discount tiers, split products into separate subscriptions when consumption changes, and merge subscriptions back together when it makes sense.

How each feature impacts the customer experience

Build-a-Box customer journey

1. Customer selects multiple products during initial checkout to build their box

2. Products are bundled together as a single subscription with one shared frequency

3. In the portal, customer can swap products within the box but cannot:

   • Remove products below the minimum quantity or value

   • Split products into separate subscriptions

   • Set different frequencies for individual products

4. Customer must manage all products together on the same schedule

Volume discount customer journey

1. Customer subscribes to one or more products at checkout

2. Each product becomes an independent subscription that can be managed separately

3. In the portal, customer sees a banner if they're eligible for additional savings by adding more products

4. Customer can:

   • Add new products to existing subscriptions to unlock higher discount tiers

   • Split products into separate subscriptions with different frequencies

   • Merge subscriptions together when prompted (via auto-merge or Klaviyo notifications)

   • Adjust individual product quantities and frequencies independently

5. Customer maintains discount benefits as long as they meet the volume threshold, regardless of how products are organized

Combining volume discounts with order consolidation

Volume discounts work particularly well when paired with order consolidation strategies. If customers have multiple subscriptions running on different dates, you can:

• Use auto-merge settings to automatically combine orders that fall within a defined window (e.g., 3 days)

• Send Klaviyo "prompt to merge" notifications to educate customers about the benefits of combining subscriptions without forcing it

• Frame merging as a value exchange rather than a discount play—customers save on shipping or reduce delivery frequency, and you save on fulfillment costs

This approach gives customers flexibility while still encouraging the behaviors that benefit your business, without restricting their ability to manage products independently.

Implementation considerations

The main difference is in how you structure the customer experience on your site and in the portal.

Build-a-Box requires:

• A custom widget or page on your site where customers build their box

• Configuration of minimum quantity or value thresholds

• Portal customization to support product swapping within the box structure

Volume discounts require:

• A product selection experience (which can be a custom bundling page or standard product pages)

• Configuration of discount tiers based on product quantity

• Portal customization to display volume discount banners and prompts

Making the right choice

If your primary goal is to let customers mix and match products without preset bundles, and your business model doesn't require enforcing order minimums, volume discounts are likely the better fit. They provide the same product selection flexibility customers want while allowing natural subscription management behaviors that reduce frustration and churn.

If your margins depend on maintaining minimum order values or quantities, and you need to prevent customers from downsizing below profitability thresholds, Build-a-Box provides the structure to protect your business while still offering customization.