Creating Discounts in Shopify
One of the most common tropes of marketing is the discount. I’m not slighting marketing (or tropes) but it is a universal truth that as long as people are SELLING there are going to be SALES. Because of this if you are selling something you are going to need to create discounts.
There are two types of discounts in Shopify: discount codes and automatic discounts.
Discount codes are the kind of discounts you see when you get the “enter promo code” type discounts. They are useful for sending out in newsletters or giving out in exchange for an email. You can use them to give a discount to a certain type of buyer. People who don’t have access to that code won’t be able to get the discount.
The other type is an automatic discount. This is a discount that everyone gets. They don’t need to have any kind of code or special knowledge. They show up, pop something in the cart and the discount shows up. These are good for running seasonal promotions and to bring in new buyers.
What they have in common
Both types of discounts can be applied to specific products, certain categories, or to the entire store. You can also set time limits on both types so you can have the sale or discount be permanent or you can have it run from x date to y date.
The caveat
There are a couple of caveats (aren’t there always). First, you can not combine an automatic discount with anything else. If you are running a sale with an automatic discount your customers won’t be able to use a discount code with it. That is the way Shopify is set up. There are a couple of apps that allow you to set up a situation where buyers can choose to cancel the automatic discount and input a discount code. These are paid apps and they will work but if you are using Shopify’s setup you are going to have those limitations.
How to set up discounts.
If you prefer written instructions keep scrolling, you’ll find them below the video.
From your dashboard, you are going to want to click “discounts”. From there you will see a tab for discount codes and a tab for automatic discounts. Select the one you would like to set up and up in the top right-hand corner click “create discount”.
From there you will walk through each section
Choose what type of discount you want to offer. Either percentage (40% off) or fixed amount ($10 off) or the free shipping or buy x get y. The first two are the ones that you are most likely to be using. Then choose the discount value. Once you have done that you’ll need to decide what products the discount will apply to, the minimum requirements, and what customers will be able to use the discount. The last two things to decide are the limits of the coupon and whether or not there will be a time limit.
Now you are ready to go out and promote your sale!
