Combining discounts

For some of your promotions, you might want to allow customers to combine discounts. You can choose from eligible combinations that allow customers to benefit from the best possible discount based on their cart. Automatic discounts and discount codes can be set up to combine.

When you set up discounts to be able to be combined, you select which classes of discounts can combine. Discount classes are like the categories of discounts. The classes that you can create are order discounts, product discounts, and shipping discounts. Discount types are more specific, such as buy X get Y, or amount off products.

You can combine the following classes of discounts:

  • order discounts with free shipping discounts
  • product discounts (buy X get Y, amount off) with free shipping discounts
  • product discounts with other product discounts

If there are active automatic discounts on your store, and a customer also uses discount codes, then the best discount or combination of discounts is automatically applied to the customer's cart. Whether the discount is automatic or it's a code, the best discount for the customer is always selected.

If a customer enters more than one discount code during checkout that exist but can't be combined, then the following message is displayed: Some discount codes couldn't be used together. We applied the best combination.

Considerations

  • No more than one discount ever applies to any single item in an order.
  • If two or more discounts are applied, but can’t be combined (due to the discount combination setting or the content of the cart), then the best discount for the customer's cart is always applied. For example, if you have an uncombinable 20% off discount for your Socks collection and an uncombinable $30 off discount for your Christmas Socks collection, and then a customer applies both to their cart, then the better discount for the customer applies.
  • Multiple discounts are applied to an order only when the setting on each discount allows the combination.
  • If you're creating a new discount to combine with another new discount, then you don't have to set both up simultaneously. You can set up and save the first discount, and then create the second discount after. After each discount is active and set up to combine with one another, they will combine automatically if a customer applies both to an order..
  • You can have a maximum of 25 automatic discounts active on your store at one time.
  • Customers can combine a maximum of 5 combinable discount codes per order.

Discount combination examples

The following table illustrates some examples of possible discount combinations.

Combination examples
Combination scenario Example discount Description
Product discount
+
Product discount (applied to different products)
20offPants + 10offShirts 20offPants and 10offShirts offer discounts to different items in the same cart.
Product discount(s)
+
Free shipping discount
20offPants + 10offShirts + FreeShip Product discounts and shipping discounts apply on the same order.
Order discount
+
Shipping discount
Welcome10 + FreeShip Order discounts and shipping discounts apply on the same order.

Example scenario

A merchant has a 20offPants and a 10offShirts code active on their store. They also have an automatic free shipping discount called Freeship100 that applies automatically to all purchases over 100 USD.

If a customer adds 100 USD worth of pants, 50 USD worth of shirts, and a $200 pair of boots to their cart, then their subtotal cart value is 350 USD.

The customer's address would normally cost the merchant $20 to ship to, but because there is an automatic free discount active for carts over 100 USD, the shipping is free. The customer's cart would look like the following breakdown.

Cart examples
Cart before discounts Discounts Cart after discounts
Pants - 100 USD
Shirts - 50 USD
Boots - 200USD

Subtotal - 350 USD

Shipping - 20 USD

Total - 370 USD
20offPants - 20 USD off any pants
10offShirts - 10 USD off any shirt
Freeship100 - Free shipping on any order over 100 USD
Pants - 80 USD
Shirts - 40 USD
Boots - 200 USD

Subtotal - 320 USD

Shipping - Free

Total - 320 USD

Set up a new discount code to be able to be combined

If you're setting up a discount type to be able to be combined for the first time, then you need to set up other discounts to be eligible to combine with it.

For example, if you set up a discount code for 25% off a collection of products, and you want it to combine with a free shipping discount code, then you need to go into each of the discounts and ensure they are both set up to combine with each other's discount class. The product discount needs to combine with shipping discounts, and the free shipping discount code needs to combine with product discounts.

Check to see if an active discount is able to be combined

You can test your discount combinations to ensure they are functioning correctly. One method to test your combinations is to do a test checkout on your store by adding the merchandise to your cart that triggers the discount combination.

If you want to see a list of all your combinations, then you can refer to the main Discounts page. Beside each of your store's discounts, under the Combines with column, the list shows if the discount is set up to combine. You can also filter the Discounts page to see a list of combinations.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, click Discounts.
  2. Click Filters.
  3. Click Select filter, and then select Combines with.
  4. Click Select value and select all the discount classes that you want to see the combinations for.

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