Overview
The Promotions Builder provides the flexibility to offer diverse discounts to shoppers. Leveraging a rule-based implementation behind the scenes, this feature allows users to set specific promotion eligibility conditions and define corresponding discount actions at various levels.
Strategic Promotion Planning
Before diving into the configuration, it's important to understand how different promotional strategies can address specific business objectives. The following sections outline key promotional approaches that merchandisers can implement using the Promotions Builder to solve various business challenges and drive revenue growth.
Promotions for Customer Acquisition
If the goal is to expand the customer base, acquisition-focused promotions are key.
First-Time Purchase Discounts
Offer a discount for the first purchase to incentivize new customers to try the product or service. Use cart conditions to identify new customers and apply percentage or fixed discounts to encourage initial purchases.
Referral Programs
Implement a referral program to leverage existing customers to bring in new ones. Configure custom attributes to track referral codes and reward both the referrer and new customer with discounts.
Free Trials or Samples
Provide free trials or samples to allow potential customers to experience the value firsthand. Use item discounts with fixed pricing to offer products at no cost for qualifying customers.
Promotions for Increasing Average Order Value
To boost revenue per transaction, promotions should encourage customers to spend more
Bundling Offers
Combine related products into bundles and offer them at a discounted price. Use cart items conditions to identify specific product combinations and apply item discounts to the bundle.
Spend More, Save More
Create tiered discounts based on purchase amount. For example, "Spend $100, get 10% off; Spend $200, get 20% off." Configure cart conditions with minimum subtotal requirements and corresponding percentage discounts.
Upselling or Cross-selling Incentives
Offer discounts on upgrades or complementary items when a customer makes a purchase. Use cart items conditions to detect primary purchases and apply item discounts to related products.
Promotions for Enhancing Customer Loyalty
Retaining customers is crucial for long-term success. Promotions can help build loyalty.
Loyalty Programs
Implement a loyalty program with points or rewards for repeat purchases. Use custom attributes to track customer loyalty status and provide exclusive discounts for loyal customers.
Exclusive Deals for Existing Customers
Offer exclusive discounts or early access to sales for loyal customers. Configure promotions with custom attributes that identify returning customers and provide them with special pricing.
Personalized Offers
Use customer data to create personalized promotions tailored to individual preferences. Leverage custom attributes and cart items conditions to create targeted promotions based on purchase history and customer segments.
Promotions for Moving Excess Inventory
When there's excess stock, promotions can help clear it out.
Flash Sales
Run short-term, deep-discount sales to create urgency and drive quick purchases. Use time-limited promotions with significant percentage discounts on specific product categories or SKUs.
Clearance Sales
Offer significant discounts on discontinued or end-of-season items. Configure item discounts with percentage or fixed amount reductions on specific product categories or SKUs.
Buy-One-Get-One (BOGO) Deals
Use BOGO offers to move large quantities of stock. Implement BXGY promotions where customers receive additional items at no cost or reduced price when purchasing qualifying products.
Configuration options
Within the Promotions Builder, you can configure promotions using various conditions:
- Cart condition: Define a minimum cart subtotal or quantity requirements.
- Item condition: Specify product SKUs, product categories, or products with attributes for eligibility.
- Custom attribute condition: Choose your own cart custom attributes.
Promotions in the Promotions Builder support the following actions:
Cart Discount: A cart discount applies to all items in the cart unless specific exclusions are specified. It can be either a fixed discount or a percentage discount.
- Fixed discount: This reduces the cart total by a fixed amount, such as $5.00 off.
- Percentage discount: This reduces the cart total by a specific percentage, such as 10% off.
Item Discount: An item discount applies to the eligible items specified in the conditions. It can be a fixed amount, percentage, fixed price, or other discount specified such as BXGY.
BXGY: Buy X and Get Y (BXGY) discounts apply to the items identified within the promotional actions. This means that when a Buy X Get Y promotion is triggered, the specified items receive the associated discounts outlined in the promotion's configuration.
Shipping Discount: Shipping discount applies to eligible shipping groups. The discount applies to the shipping base price, excluding tax and fees.
Exclusions can be applied to any of these conditions and promotions, allowing you to refine your discount strategies further. For example, you can exclude specific products, categories, or attributes from promotions, providing more flexibility in setting up promotion rules.
To understand the difference between Promotions Standard and Promotions Builder, see Feature Comparison.
As a best practice, we recommend creating new promotions in the Promotions Builder and allowing Promotions Standard to expire. While Promotions Standard can currently run side by side with new ones, transitioning to the Promotions Builder ensures alignment with updated features and facilitates smoother management of promotions over time.
Stacking and Prioritizing Multiple Promotions
You can create a priority number for both stackable and non-stackable promotions. Simultaneously apply multiple promotions by stacking both cart-level and item-level discounts on top of each other. The priority number assigned to each stackable promotion determines the order in which they are applied. Higher numbers indicate higher priority, meaning those promotions will be applied first.
For example, if you have two promotions that can be stacked, the promotion with priority 90 will be applied before the promotion with priority 60.
If no priority is set, the promotions are applied sequentially based on their creation dates. The newest promotion is applied first and discounted prices calculated against any previously-discounted item prices. For example, if a SKU matches the criteria of the multiple promotions, the promotions will be applied in order from the newest to the oldest. If the original item price is $50 and the newest promotion applies a 10% discount, the item price would be reduced to $45. The next promotion would then be applied to this new price.
Standard Promotions are always applied first, regardless of any priorities set. Once all Standard Promotions have been applied, promotions configured in Promotions Builder are applied in the order determined by their assigned priority numbers.
Override Stacking
Override stacking enables a promotion to be stacked on otherwise non-stackable promotions. This enables you to create promotions that will always stack, even if the first applied promotion is non-stackable. An example use case is offering free shipping on all orders during a sale. You can set up a free shipping promotion with Override stacking turned ON. This ensures that the free shipping promotion will always apply, regardless of other promotion types, without needing to modify existing promotions. The order in which promotions stack depends on their Priority. The promotion with the highest Priority value takes precedence.
How To Guides
To configure specific promotion types using the Promotions Builder, see these How-To Guides.