A promotion gives customers a discount automatically at the till. It can be a percentage off when a bill in the categories you choose reaches a minimum spend, or free items (buy X, get Y free). You set when it starts and ends, so you can prepare a promotion months ahead and switch it off at any time.
Example: Laundry, 15% off bills of 50,000 and over. A laundry bill of 51,000 gets 7,650 off, and the customer pays 43,350.
Before you start
- You need the Products right (Item / Inventory master).
- You need a discount type. That is an item of type Discount with a Discount Account, under Products & Services → Items (other). The promotion's discounts are booked to that account. One discount type can serve every promotion; make a separate one ("Promotions") if you want promotion discounts reported apart from cashier discounts.
Steps
- Go to Products & Services → Promotions and click New promotion.
- Type a Name customers would recognise, for example Laundry 15% off over 50,000.
- Choose Starts and Ends (last day). The promotion runs on both days and every day between.
- Type the Minimum spend (before tax) and the Discount %.
- Optional: a Maximum discount per sale, so one very large bill can't get an unlimited discount.
- Pick the Discount type the discount is booked to.
- Tick the Item categories it applies to. Sub-categories are included automatically. Tick none to include every item.
- Leave Switched on ticked and click Save.
Buy X, get Y free
To give free items, for example buy 2 shirts, get the 3rd free:
- Click New promotion and choose Buy X, get Y free at the top. You can't change this choice after saving.
- Type Buy (for example 2) and Get free (for example 1).
- Choose which items count together:
- Same item only: 3 of the same shirt make 1 free. Two shirts and a tie don't.
- Any items in the categories, the cheapest free: any 3 qualifying items make 1 free, and the free one is the cheapest of them.
- Pick the categories, the dates and the discount type as above, and Save.
Only whole units count, so 2.5 kg doesn't make a third unit. For every Buy + Get free units, Get free are free, so with buy 2 get 1 free, 6 shirts make 2 free. A Minimum spend is optional here. Set one to require a minimum bill as well.
The cashier still rings up the free item like any other. The till then takes its price off. Nothing is added to the cart automatically.
How it works at the till
- When the cashier presses Charge, the payment screen shows a Promotion: … line with the discount, and the total drops. Nobody has to remember or type anything.
- Only items in the promotion's categories count towards the minimum spend, at their price before tax. Tax is then worked out on the discounted price.
- An item that already has its own discount still counts towards the minimum spend, but isn't discounted twice.
- If several promotions apply, the customer gets the biggest discount. Promotions never add up.
- The discount is saved on each item it applies to, so refunds give back the right amount (see Refunds & returns).
On the back-office invoice screen
Promotions also apply when you create a new invoice under Sales → Invoices. As you add lines, the summary shows incl. promotion: … under Discount, and the Net already includes it. When you save, the promotion's discount goes on the items it applies to. If the promotion changed while you were typing, you see "The promotion on this sale has changed". The total updates; check it and save again.
Switching a promotion off
Click On in the promotion's row to switch it Off. It stops at once and can be switched on again later. A promotion that sales have already used can't be deleted; switch it off instead.
The list shows each promotion's Status (Running, Scheduled, Ended, Switched off), how many Sales used it, and the Discount given so far.
Tips
- Prepare seasonal offers ahead of time with future dates. They show as Scheduled until their first day.
- Sales staff don't need a manager's approval for a promotion. Their own discount limits apply only to discounts they type themselves.
Common problems
- The promotion didn't apply → check the bill reached the minimum spend before tax with items in the chosen categories. Also check today is within the dates and the promotion is On.
- "First set up a discount type" → create an item of type Discount with a Discount Account, as in Before you start.
- The cashier saw "The promotion on this sale has changed" → the promotion ended or was switched off while the payment screen was open, or a price changed. The total has been updated. Check it with the customer and complete the sale again.
- The promotion didn't apply when I edited an invoice → promotions are applied when a sale is created, at the till or on a new invoice. Editing a saved invoice keeps the discounts it was saved with and doesn't add a promotion.