Black Friday-Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the ultimate event for retail—and for good reason. Businesses on Shopify drove a record $9.3 billion in sales and engaged more than 61 million customers during BFCM weekend in 2023. And according to research from the National Retail Federation, 72% of global consumers still rely on stores as part of their primary buying method.
To make the most of the holiday sales period, retailers need to craft compelling promotional strategies for in-store customers. Effective discounts have the power to drive more conversions, increase average order value, and entice customers to purchase more items. Offering differentiated discounts can also give you a competitive edge and drive more in-store traffic, especially as customers shop around before their final purchase.
- During BFCM 2023, Shopify retailers drove $9.3 billion in sales and engaged over 61 million customers.
- 72% of consumers still rely on stores as part of their primary buying method, according to National Retail Federation research.
Top brands trust Shopify POS and its robust, customizable suite of discounting tools to deliver more in-person sales, especially during retail’s busiest season. With Shopify, you can run an omnichannel promotional strategy by streamlining discounting across in-store and online. This ensures a consistent shopping experience for customers and easy, efficient discount setup for your team.
Ahead, you’ll get an in-depth look at five key discount features in Shopify POS, and how you can use them to build deals your customers will love—during BFCM and beyond.
1. Automatic discounts
BFCM only happens once a year, so retailers have a limited time to take advantage of the holiday sales period. Retailers can accelerate transactions by directly applying discounts at checkout with automatic discount features in Shopify POS. This way, store staff can save time, skip manual inputs, reduce errors, and help customers feel more confident completing purchases.
How it works
Shopify POS can automatically trigger discounts in carts and at checkout. With automatic discounts enabled, store staff can ring up a customer’s items and any eligible discounts will be applied to the customer’s cart. For discounts to apply correctly, customers must first add all eligible items to their cart.
As a retailer, you can offer discounts that automatically apply based on criteria you determine. You might choose to discount certain individual products, product types, entire orders, and/or shipping options. Discounts can offer a particular percentage off or a fixed amount off an order.
How to set it up
If you’re using Shopify POS, you can enable automatic discounts for in-person sales through the Shopify admin in the “Discounts” module. You get to decide:
- The fixed amount and percentage off
- When or if the discount ends
- Which specific products, collections, and variants the discount applies to
- Any minimum purchase amount or minimum item quantity
- Whether the discount can be combined with other discounts
Setting up automatic discounts in Shopify POS is quick and easy, as shown in this helpful, step-by-step video below.
2. Discount codes
Discount codes are another way to encourage shoppers to choose your brand over competitors and drive more BFCM revenue. Retailers might offer discount codes as part of limited-time marketing campaigns, as rewards for taking specific actions, like signing up for an email list, or as ways to target customer segments, like new or long-time customers. During BFCM and beyond, you can use discount codes in Shopify POS as an effective way to incentivize in-store purchases and attract new customers.
How it works
Shopify POS enables discount code configuration. With discount codes in Shopify, you can give customers special offers on products, collections, and variants in your store. To apply discounts in store, staff can manually enter a discount code or select the discount in the Smart Grid during checkout, helping customers save on their purchases. Discount codes in Shopify allow you to build a variety of offers, including Buy X, Get Y promotions and amount-off deals.
💡 PRO TIP: In Shopify POS, you can configure Smart Grid tiles to surface discount codes, so store staff can easily access and apply discounts.
Learn more about discounts in the Smart Grid here.How to set it up
You can easily set up discount codes for Shopify POS. In your Shopify admin, you can build discounts to your business's specifications, so you get to decide:
- How long a discount is valid
- How many times a discount can be used
- Any minimum order amount required before a discount applies
- Which customer segments, product, collections, and variants get discounts
- If the discount can be combined with other discounts
💡 PRO TIP: Shopify POS allows you to apply discount codes to specific customer segments. This way, you can offer VIP-style discounts for groups like new, repeat, or long-time customers.
3. Buy X, Get Y discounts
Buy X, Get Y promotions can be a valuable part of your BFCM discounting strategy. With BFCM happening near the end of the year, it’s a great time for retailers to move older inventory to make room for newer products. And with holiday shoppers exploring their options, retailers can attract new customers with enticing deals that give them more for their money with Buy X, Get Y deals.
These deals have a wide range of potential business benefits—including building customer loyalty, attracting new customers, encouraging bulk purchases, promoting new products, and clearing out slow-moving or seasonal inventory.
How it works
Shopify POS gives you the power to create Buy X, Get Y offers through automatic discounts or discount codes. BOGO (aka “buy one, get one”) deals are a popular example of a Buy X, Get Y discount. With these discounts, retailers might offer customers the ability to:
- Buy X, get Y free
- Buy X, get Y at a set amount off
- Buy X, get Y at a percentage off
You might also offer unique discount types tailored to your business. For example, an apparel brand could offer a free tote bag along with every purchase of $50 or higher. Or a beauty brand might offer 50% off a new lip gloss with every purchase of a certain face cleanser.
How to set it up
Retailers can use Shopify POS to offer Buy X, Get Y deals for in-store purchases. Shopify POS can automatically apply this type of discount or discount code, saving time for store staff. You can build your own discount in the Shopify admin, and this quick explainer video walks you through the steps.
4. Discount combinations
Your discounting strategy can be a key differentiator as competition heats up for holiday sales dollars. Give your business a competitive advantage by allowing customers to combine and stack multiple discounts. With discount combinations, Shopify POS allows retailers greater flexibility to run more advanced and tailored pricing and discounting strategies.
After all, if customers can find a better deal with your business compared to competitors, you’re better positioned to drive more in-store traffic, win more sales, and hit your BFCM revenue targets.
How it works
Shopify POS allows store staff to process multiple discounts in a single retail checkout. You get to decide which discount types are eligible for combination. You can combine discounts across three main classes:
- Order discount
- Product discount
- Shipping discount
For example, if you create a discount code for 10% off an entire order, you can also allow that discount code to be combined with a 30% off product discount for the same order.
How to set it up
Retailers on Shopify POS can designate which discounts can be combined using the Shopify admin. Shopify offers five discount combination options:
- Order discounts with free shipping discounts
- Product discounts with free shipping discounts
- Product discounts with other product discounts
- Product discounts with order discounts (only available to eligible retailers)
- Order discounts with other order discounts (only available to eligible retailers)
You can learn more about Shopify POS discount combinations in this helpful resource.
5. Discount functions
BFCM is a prime opportunity to get creative with discounts. That’s why Shopify empowers retailers to build offers to meet their unique needs, with discount functions.
Shopify goes beyond out-of-the-box solutions, so you can craft customized discounts for unique use cases. For example, you might want to offer volume-based, membership-based, or loyalty-based discounts. With Shopify discount functions, you can—and you get the extensibility you need to get creative as you want.
How it works
With discount functions for Shopify POS, businesses can create unique discounts outside of Shopify’s native suite of tools with vetted third-party apps that are flexible, scalable, and fast to deploy. Retailers with developer resources can also build their own custom discount apps through Shopify Functions. Let’s look at a few examples of each option.
Texas-based pet supplies business Tomlinson’s opted to create their own app. Tomlinson’s partnered with a web design agency to build a custom discount app using Shopify Functions, which allows developers to directly customize Shopify’s backend logic. Kate Knecht, the business’s owner and operator, calls discounting functionality in Shopify “a thing of beauty.”
“The app gave us the discounting functionality that we didn’t have with our former POS,” says Kate. “Our discounts populate automatically, which saves our team a lot of time and energy.”
Retailers can also choose from a range of ready-to-use apps available in the Shopify app store. Here’s an example: Let’s say your apparel brand wants to create a volume-based tiered product discount. In this scenario, you want to incentivize customers to spend more. So the more a customer spends, the greater percentage discount they earn. Using a Shopify partner app, you could build a custom tiered discount that looks like this:
- If a shopper buys one shirt, they get 5% off.
- If they buy two shirts, they get 10% off.
- And if a customer buys three shirts, they get 20% off.
The app [created with Shopify Functions] gave us the discounting functionality that we didn’t have with our former POS. Our discounts populate automatically, which saves our team a lot of time and energy.
How to set it up
Retailers can visit the Shopify app store to choose from 20+ popular apps, such as the Discount Kit app from Optizio, which offers tiered pricing, volume discounts, upsell discounts, and other custom discounts options. To learn more, read this case study about how Optizio helps Shopify retailers implement their discounting strategy.
Simplify in-store discounts with Smart Grid tiles
When the BFCM rush hits, retailers need to prepare their in-store staff to handle the influx of shoppers. Businesses using Shopify POS systems have a unique advantage because they can equip their staff with tools to make the discounting process easier.
Smart Grid tiles within the Shopify POS app allow store staff easy access to discount offers and codes at checkout, enabling a smoother and faster experience for staff and customers alike. Instead of staff hunting around for the right discount code, you can configure your Smart Grid with a discount code tile. With tiles configured for discounts, staff can use Shopify POS’s Smart Grid to easily find and apply the right discount.
Shopify POS discount tools: Your winning edge for BFCM
Competition for BFCM business is fierce. But the right discounting strategy can help you bring in more store traffic and bring home more wins. Shopify POS and its omnichannel discounting tools will be right there with you to help make the busy season your best ever.
Read more
- 7 Effective Discount Pricing Strategies to Increase Sales
- Black Friday Checklist: 25 Tips To Prepare for BFCM
- 15 Creative Black Friday Promotional Marketing Ideas
- Sales Promotion: Definition, Examples + 12 Strategies
- 12 Discount Strategies in Retail To Try in Your Store
- Retail Holiday Shopping Calendar: Every Date to Know
