Before you start
Ensure you have access to Bulk Operations in your User Permissions.
Run bulk updates during off-peak hours to minimize customer impact.
What is a bundle expansion?
Some stores sell bundles as a single line item in Shopify. While this simplifies the initial purchase, it can limit how subscribers manage recurring orders, since they cannot swap or remove individual items inside the bundle.
Bundle expansion solves this issue by converting a single bundled product into its individual component products, so subscribers can manage each item independently. Skio supports bundle expansion through Journeys and Bulk Operations.
If you want to offer a customizable bundle that customers build themselves, consider using Build-a-Box. It allows customers to choose products at checkout and manage each item individually in their customer portal after purchase.
When to use Journeys vs. Bulk Operations
Our recommended approach is to run a bulk operation to update existing subscriptions, then activate a Journey to handle all new subscriptions automatically going forward.
See the following table for common scenarios and the recommended approach for each:
Use case | Recommended approach |
|---|---|
Automatically expand bundles for new subscriptions | Journey |
Expand bundles after a specific order or renewal | Journey |
Support an ongoing “bundle first, customize later” strategy | Journey |
Expand bundled products on subscriptions that already exist | Bulk operation |
Migrate legacy bundle subscribers to a new structure | Bulk operation |
Make a one-time structural change to active subscriptions | Bulk operation |
Launch or change a bundle strategy across all subscribers | Bulk operation + Journey |
How do I break apart bundled subscriptions into individual products in bulk?
Bulk Operations are used to expand a bundled product on subscriptions that already exist. This is typically a one-time change applied to a defined group of active subscriptions.
To run a bundle expansion bulk operation:
In your Skio dashboard, go to Tools > Bulk Operations.
Choose the subscription type. Select either Regular recurring subscription or Prepaid subscription.
Define the conditions for the customers you want to target. You can add multiple conditions using AND, OR, or AND/OR logic.
Most stores target active subscriptions, then narrow further by product, order number, or customer segment.
Add the Bundle expansion action. Select the bundled SKU to remove and specify the individual component products, including quantities and pricing behavior.
Preview the bulk operation to ensure that the appropriate subscriptions are being updated and click Start operation to run the bulk update.
Use the exported CSV (comma-separated values) file to check if the bulk operation ran successfully. Search for a subscription ID from the CSV in the Skio Dashboard under Subscribers > Subscriptions to confirm that the product was swapped as expected.
How do I automatically expand bundled subscriptions using Journeys?
Journeys are used to automatically expand bundles for new subscriptions created after the Journey is activated. This is the recommended approach when you want bundle expansion to occur at a specific point in the subscription lifecycle or if you want to automatically expand bundles for new subscribers.
Refer to How to automatically expand bundles with Journeys for step-by-step instructions.