Overview
Solidus's promotions system allows you to give discounts to customers. Discounts
can be applied to different amounts that make up the order:
- Discounts can apply to the entire order's cost.
- Discounts can apply to a line item (or a set of line items) on the order.
- Discounts can apply to the shipping charges on the order.
You can create simple or complex promotions based on store and product
information, including information about your customers's previous orders.
Promotions have four essential parts:
-
The promotion details
. These include basic information
about the promotion, how it should be applied, and an optional promotion
code used to redeem the discount.
-
Activation methods
. You can change the way that
promotions are activated. For example, some promotions are activated with
promotion codes while others are activated automatically.
-
Promotion rules
. Rules allow you to configure the
conditions that must be met before a promotion can be applied to an order.
-
Promotion actions
. Actions define what should happen
when the promotion is applied. In most cases, this is free shipping or a
discount.
While promotions can be much more complicated, you can create a simple promotion
in just a few steps:
- In the Solidus admin interface, select the Promotions item from the main
menu.
- Select the New Promotion button.
- Enter a name for the new promotion in the Name field.
- Fill in any optional fields for your new promotion. For more information
about the available fields, see
Promotion details
.
- Choose an
activation method
. By default, the activation
method is set to Single promotion code and requires a single Promotion
Code value.
- Select the Create button to save the new promotion.
When you create a promotion, you can fill in the following information about it:
- Name: The name for the promotion. Customers can see this name during
checkout and on invoices.
- Description: An optional description of the promotion.
- Promotion Category: The
promotion category
for the
promotion.
- Usage Limit: This sets how many times that a promotion can be used. By
default, promotions have no usage limit.
- Start and End: This sets the dates that the promotion should start and
end by. By default, promotions are active as soon as they are created, and
they have no end date.
Activation methods
When you create a new promotion, you can choose from a number of activation
methods:
- Apply to all orders: No promotion code is required. If an order meets all
of the promotion rules, then the promotion is activated.
- Single promotion code: The promotion is activated if the customer enters
the associated promotion code and they meet all of the configured
promotion
rules
.
- Multiple promotion codes: The promotion is activated if the customer
enters one of the many associated promotion codes and they meet all of the
configured promotion rules. See
Multiple promotion
codes
below for more information.
When you create a new promotion that uses the Multiple promotion codes
activation method, a number of new configuration fields become available:
- Base code: The base promotion code that is used to generate all of the
promotion codes.
- Number of codes: The number of promotion codes that are generated for the
promotion. Each generated code uses random numbers and letters. For example:
x32nr
.
- Join characters: The characters that appear between the base code and the
randomly generated code. For example, you could set a join character of
-
to
create codes like code-x32nr
. This field is optional.
- Per Code Usage Limit: This sets the amount of times that each generated
code can be used. By default, there is no usage limit. This field is optional.
If your promotion uses multiple promotion codes you can download a list of the
codes that were generated for it:
- Go to the Promotions page of the Solidus admin.
- Select the Edit button next to the promotion that you want to download
promotion codes for.
- Select the Download Code List button to download a list of codes in CSV
format.
If you have generated multiple batches of codes, you can use the Promotion
Code Batches button to view a list of batches, then use the Download Code
List link next to the batch you want the codes for.
You can set up promotion categories to organize your promotions. Promotion
categories have a Name and a Code. Your customers cannot see promotion
categories. Only store administrators can see promotion categories.