How to Create a Discount Strategy on Shopify in 2024

Having a discount strategy is an effective method to help boost your sales and increase the conversion rate of your eCommerce.

As long as it's done strategically, it can also mean an increase in Return On Investment (ROI).

Before diving into discounts, though, there's a bit of homework to do. 

1. First, you need to have a clear picture of how much profit you're making on each item or service.
2. Next, figure out what kind of deal will make your customers' eyes light up—maybe it's free shipping, coupon codes, or a straight-up discount. 
3. Lastly, decide on the timing. Will these deals be the talk of the town all year round, or will they pop up just once in a while?

What is a Discount Strategy?

A discount strategy is all about cutting prices on products or services for a set time to reel in new customers and boost a business's sales. 

It's a popular tactic both in brick-and-mortar shops and online stores, showing up in all kinds of shapes and forms.

But here's the kicker: if you want to make a discount strategy work wonders, you can't just wing it. There are a few key things you need to think about to pull it off like a pro.

Product Analysis

Digging into your products is a must-do before you hit the "promo" button.

You must be clear about the best-selling products of your eCommerce, which products you have more stock or which products are from other seasons, and therefore, you want to sell at a lower price.

For instance, slashing prices on the last few items of a low-stock product is a smart move to clear out inventory and make room for new stuff.

Brand Image Analysis

How your customers see your brand is huge. If you want users to perceive you as a luxury brand, discounts on your products can have a negative influence because a discounted product can be perceived as inferior.

In this case, it is very important to have previously defined your brand's objectives to understand if the discount strategy makes sense for your Shopify store.

Strategy Implementation

What discount strategy are we going to use in our eCommerce?

The options are very diverse, and therefore, we must analyze which option best fits our target audience and our business goals, always taking into account, as we have said, our profit margin so that it is not negatively affected.

Price Discount

A simple price discount has an automatic start and end date. An example is having a product that was originally $100 and discounted by $20 to show as $80 to the shopper. 

You can set a price discount to last for one day, one month, or one year!

This hands-off approach lets your deals shine on their own, making things a bit easier on your end.

Using Shopify apps to showcase discounts directly on the product page means your customers spot the deals as soon as they land on your site. It's straightforward and effective.

Free Shipping Discount

According to SaleCycle, nearly 81% of shopping carts abandoned in 2020, often due to steep shipping costs, offering free shipping can be a game-changer in lowering that rate.

Loyalty Customer Discount

Another of the most popular discounts in eCommerce strategies are discounts for loyal customers! You can use the best loyalty apps for Shopify to use this strategy for your best customers.

You can also offer your loyal customers bonus points during a specific time period OR offer them double the points for the same amount of spend.

Source: Shopify

Flash Sales

Flash sales are ideal for special events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as they have a limited duration. 

You can also implement a 'daily deals' flash sale for moving inventory quickly and with higher discounts.

Last Unit Discounts

If your objective is to release stock, you can heavily discount product from previous seasons.

For example, discounting winter products at the start of summer.

Volume Discounts

These discounts will be beneficial for boosting AOV since you are rewarding customers for buying more.

Getting the Word Out

Remember that, to promote your discount and inform your potential customers; you should prepare a communication strategy in advance.

To ensure your customers don’t miss your offer, you can promote your discount through email marketing, SMS marketing, and social media.

You can see more detail on how to create discounts on Shopify in this step-by-step guide .

Types of Shopify Discounts

Shopify makes it super easy to sprinkle some discount magic over your online store, offering two main ways to do so: discount codes and automatic discounts.

Source: Shopify

Discount Codes

Imagine offering deals like "save $ on this product," "get $ off your total order," "enjoy free shipping," or "buy one, get one" that customers can snag by entering a special code at checkout. Setting this up is a breeze:

From the Shopify dashboard, head to the discounts page and click the "create a discount" button, then  configure the following:

• Duration of the discount
• Number of discount uses
• Minimum purchase quantity or items
• Discount conditions (products, collections, variants, countries, etc.)
• Customer eligibility

Automated Discounts

Just like the discounts mentioned above, automated discounts can shave dollars off products or orders, waive shipping fees, or set up sweet "buy one, get one" deals. 

The cool part? 

No code needed. 

These discounts apply themselves automatically at cart and checkout once the conditions are met, making life easier for both you and your customers. 

Setting them up is similar! Just h ead over to the Shopify discount page, pick your discount type, and set the conditions.

If you want to showcase the discounted price right on the product page, apps like Planet can help. You can use   Shopify Apps like Planet , which allows your customer to see the final price of the discounted product and how much money they are saving with the purchase thanks to the comparative price.

This will increase the average order value and save time by automating the process in just a few clicks.

Why Bother With Shopify Discounts?

Save Time