Setting up recurring orders for groceries and other consumables can be a big time saver, but it seems like the subscription services I’ve seen are missing out on some obvious enhancements. For instance, let’s say you are signed up to receive a case of cereal every six months, but you’ve typically been running out sooner. As a result, you place an extra order every three months, in between the scheduled deliveries.

Based on this ordering behavior, the retailer could easily crunch the numbers and suggest that you change your delivery interval to once every three months. Similarly, if you’ve been buying a particular product manually, they could use the data to recommend signing up for a recurring order instead.

In short, all it takes is two orders of the same item for the store to begin building a meaningful order history. By using that data to suggest appropriate subscription sign-ups or modifications, a smart retailer can save customers time, while increasing the scale and consistency of their recurring revenue streams.