Skip to main content
Back to E-commerce Dictionary

Discounts

E-commerce strategy and analyticsIntermediate Level

E-commerce discounts are price reductions, such as percentage off, fixed amount off, BOGO or free shipping, that online stores use to drive sales.

Image by · CC BY 4.0

What is Discounts?

E-commerce discounts are price reductions an online store offers to win a sale, such as a percentage off, a fixed amount off, buy one get one, free shipping or a tiered volume price. Discount management is the work of planning those offers, applying them to the right products and channels, and ending them on time. A discount changes the price a shopper pays, while a promotion is the wider campaign around it, with banners, emails and landing pages. Discounts can apply automatically in the cart, through a coupon code, or as a lower sale price shown next to the regular price. A good discount strategy starts from margin: before you set 20 or 30 off, know what is left after cost, fees and shipping. The profit margin calculator shows that quickly.

Why Discounts matters for e-commerce

Discounts are one of the fastest levers an online store has: they bring in new customers, move slow stock and lift order value. They also carry risk. Too many offers train shoppers to wait for a sale, and a price that differs between your webshop and a marketplace confuses buyers. Planning discounts per product and channel, with a margin floor and an end date, keeps them working for you.

Examples of Discounts

  • 1Type: Percentage off, Offer: 20 percent off all winter jackets, Goal: Clear seasonal stock
  • 2Type: Fixed amount, Offer: 10 off a first order above 50, Goal: Win new customers
  • 3Type: Tiered pricing, Offer: Lower unit price from 10 pieces, Goal: Raise B2B order size
  • 4Type: Free shipping, Offer: Free delivery above 75, Goal: Raise average order value
Image by · CC BY 4.0

How WISEPIM Helps

  • Pricing rules per channel let you set different prices for your webshop and marketplaces from one product record.
  • Bulk editing updates sale prices and promotional attributes for a whole selection of products at once.
  • Automations with schedule triggers can run price updates hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.
  • Opt-in auto-sync pushes a saved price change about 30 seconds later to supported platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento 2.

Common mistakes with Discounts

  • Setting a discount without checking the margin that is left after costs and shipping.
  • Running offers so often that shoppers stop buying at full price.
  • Forgetting to end a sale, so the discounted price stays live for weeks.
  • Showing different sale prices on the webshop and on marketplaces.

Tips for Discounts

  • Set a margin floor per category before you plan any discount.
  • Give every offer a start and end date and a clear goal you can measure.
  • Check that the sale price is the same on every channel that shows it.
  • Use the break-even calculator to see how many extra sales a discount needs.

Trends around Discounts

  • Personalized offers based on customer segment or purchase history instead of site-wide sales.
  • Stricter price indication rules in the EU, which require showing the lowest price of the previous 30 days next to a discount.
  • Loyalty perks, such as early access, replacing deep percentage cuts.
  • Bundles and volume pricing used to raise order value without lowering the visible price.

Tools for Discounts

  • Shopify: Automatic discounts, discount codes and buy X get Y offers.
  • WooCommerce: Coupons and sale prices, extended with plugins for tiered pricing.
  • Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce): Catalog and cart price rules per customer group.
  • WISEPIM: Pricing rules per channel, bulk editing and scheduled automations for sale prices.

Related Terms

Agentic commerceAverage Order Value (AOV)Conversion Rate (CR)Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) for Product PagesDemand forecasting

Also Known As

price reductionsmarkdownssale pricespromotional pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

The common types are percentage off, a fixed amount off, buy one get one, free shipping, tiered volume pricing and bundle prices. Stores also use first-order codes, loyalty rewards and time-limited flash sales. Each type suits a different goal, such as clearing stock or raising order value.

Discount management is planning, applying and tracking price reductions across your products and channels. It covers which products get which discount, when it starts and ends, and whether every channel shows the same sale price. Good discount management also checks the margin that is left after each offer.

Start with the goal, such as new customers, clearing old stock or a higher order value, and pick the discount type that fits it. Calculate the margin after the discount and set a floor you will not go below. Limit the time and the product range, then compare results with a period without the offer.

A discount is the price reduction itself. A promotion is the campaign that communicates it, with banners, emails, ads and product badges. One promotion can include several discounts, and some promotions, such as a free gift, change no price at all.

Still have questions?

Can't find the answer you're looking for? Please get in touch with our team.

Contact Support

Keep exploring

Hand-picked next steps to go deeper.