How to set up discounts

A discount typed by hand at the counter is revenue you gave up with no name on it. Setting them up once means a cashier picks a discount that already has a reason, a value and a scope, and your discount report becomes readable.

1. 1

   Open Settings → Discounts

   An empty screen invites you to create reusable discounts, codes and automatic rules to apply at checkout. Each one you create shows its type, value, what it applies to, whether it is active, and how many times it has been used.

2. 2

   Create a discount and name it

   Click Create discount. The name is what the cashier will pick from a list, so name it after the situation: "Staff", "Repeat repair", "Black Friday 15%".

3. 3

   Choose the type and value

   A percentage or a fixed amount. Percentages travel better across price changes; fixed amounts are clearer on a cheap item.

4. 4

   Choose how it is applied

   Three methods, and they behave differently at the counter:

   • Automatic — applies itself when its conditions are met. Nobody has to remember it.
   • Code — the customer or the cashier types a code. This is what you put in a campaign.
   • Manual — the cashier picks it deliberately from the list.
5. 5

   Choose what it applies to

   The whole order, specific products, or whole categories. A category discount is what makes a promotion on "all cases" survive you adding three new cases next week.

6. 6

   Activate and deactivate rather than delete

   Toggle a discount inactive when a promotion ends. Deleting it loses the record of what it did; the used count is part of your history.

7. 7

   Read what it cost you

   The discount report shows discounts applied and revenue given up. That second figure is the one worth a monthly look — a discount nobody planned is usually the largest line on it.