Cart Rules

A cart rule gives shoppers a discount in the cart. It can apply on its own, or only when the shopper enters a coupon code. Use cart rules for offers such as 20% off orders of $50 or more, free shipping for wholesale customers, or buy two and get one free.

To lower product prices before anything reaches the cart, use catalog rules instead.

Create a cart rule

1. Go to Marketing >> Promotions >> Cart Rules.

2. Click Create Cart Rule.

3. Fill in the General, Conditions and Actions sections, and the Settings and Marketing Time panels, as described below.

   

4. In the Settings panel, switch Status on. A new rule starts switched off.

5. Click Save Cart Rule.

You see "Cart rule created successfully".

General

Setting	What it does
Name	Identifies the rule in the admin panel
Description	Your own notes about the rule
Coupon Type	No Coupon applies the discount to every cart that matches the rule. Specific Coupon applies it only when the shopper enters a code.
Auto Generate Coupon	Appears for Specific Coupon. No lets you type one code. Yes lets you generate many unique codes after you save the rule.
Coupon Code	Appears when Auto Generate Coupon is No. The code shoppers enter. Every code must be unique in your store.
Uses Per Coupon	Appears for Specific Coupon. How many times each code can be used in total, including each generated code. Leave it at 0 for no limit.
Uses Per Customer	How many times one signed-in customer can use the rule and each of its codes. Guests aren't limited. Leave it at 0 for no limit.

Conditions

Conditions decide which carts and items get the discount. Leave them empty to apply the rule to every cart.

1. Choose the Condition Type: All Conditions Are True or Any Conditions Are True.
2. Click Add Condition.
3. Choose what to check, the operator and the value.

Remove a condition with the bin icon beside it. You can check:

• Cart attribute: Subtotal, Total items-qty, Payment method, Shipping method, Shipping postcode, Shipping state and Shipping country.
• Cart item attribute: Price in cart, Quantity in cart, Total Weight, Subtotal and Additional.
• Product attribute: Categories, Categories(Children Only), Categories(Parent Only), Attribute Family and your product attributes.

For categories, tick them in the tree. Each product attribute is also offered with (Children Only) and (Parent Only) after its name. Text area, image and file attributes aren't offered.

The operators depend on what you check:

• Numbers and dates offer Is equal to, Is not equal to, Equals or greater than, Equals or less than, Greater than and Less than.
• Text offers Is equal to, Is not equal to, Contain and Does not contain.
• Single choices, such as Payment method, Shipping country and Attribute Family, and Yes/No attributes offer Is equal to and Is not equal to.
• Categories and multiple-choice attributes offer Contains and Does not contain.

Actions

1. Choose the Action Type.
2. Fill in the fields that appear for it.

Action Type	What it gives	Fields
Percentage Product Price	A percentage off each matching item	Discount Percent (%), from 0 to 100, and Maximum Discounted Quantity
Fixed Amount	A fixed amount off each matching item	Discount Amount and Maximum Discounted Quantity
Fixed Amount Whole Cart	A fixed amount off the whole cart, shared across the matching items by price	Discount Amount
Buy X Get Y Free	Free units when the shopper buys a set quantity of an item	Free Quantity (Y), Buy X Quantity and Maximum Eligible Quantity

Maximum Discounted Quantity caps how many units of each matching item get the discount. Enter 0 for no cap. An empty box counts as 1.

Apply to Shipping, Free Shipping and End Of Other Rules appear for every action type:

Setting	What it does
Apply to Shipping	Yes also takes the discount off the shipping cost. It works only with Percentage Product Price and Fixed Amount.
Free Shipping	Yes makes shipping free when the rule applies
End Of Other Rules	Yes stops rules with a higher Priority number from applying after this one

An item's discount never goes above the item's price. Before you launch a Fixed Amount Whole Cart rule, test it with a cart that holds several units of one product, and check the discount.

Buy X Get Y Free

With Buy X Quantity set to 2 and Free Quantity (Y) set to 1, every third unit of a matching item is free. A shopper with 3 units gets 1 free, and with 6 units gets 2 free. The free units come out of the quantity in the cart, so the shopper adds them. Maximum Eligible Quantity caps how many units of the item count towards the deal. Enter 0 for no cap. An empty box counts as 1.

There's no discount when Free Quantity (Y) is more than Buy X Quantity, or when Buy X Quantity is 0, its starting value.

Settings and Marketing Time

Setting	What it does
Priority	The order rules are applied in, starting from the lowest number
Channels	The channels the rule works on
Customer Groups	The customer groups who get the discount, such as Guest, General and Wholesale
Status	Switches the rule on or off. Off by default, and a rule that's off doesn't apply.
From	The date and time the rule starts. Leave it empty to start straight away.
To	The date and time the rule ends. It must be the same as or later than From. Leave it empty for no end. Generated coupons show it as their expiration date.

How rules work together

• Every active rule that matches applies, in Priority order, until a rule with End Of Other Rules set to Yes. Give rules different priorities when the order matters.
• A cart holds one coupon code at a time.
• Uses are counted when an order with a discount is placed. Once a code reaches Uses Per Coupon, or a signed-in customer reaches Uses Per Customer, it stops applying.
• Changing To, Uses Per Coupon or Uses Per Customer later updates every generated code too.

Generate coupon codes

Generate many unique codes for one rule, for example to send a different code to each subscriber.

1. Create a rule with Coupon Type set to Specific Coupon and Auto Generate Coupon set to Yes, and save it.

   

2. In Marketing >> Promotions >> Cart Rules, click the edit icon of the rule.

3. In the Generated Coupons section, click Generate Coupons.

4. Enter the Coupon Quantity, 1 or more.

5. Enter the Coupon Length. It's 12 by default and must be at least 10, not counting the prefix and suffix.

6. Choose the Code Format: Alphanumeric, Alphabetical or Numeric.

7. Enter a Code Prefix and a Code Suffix, if you like.

   

8. Click Generate.

The codes are listed under Generated Coupons with their ID, Coupon Code, Times Used, Created Date and Expiration Date. Delete a code with its delete icon, or select several codes and delete them together. Click Export to download the list.

On the rule's edit page, Generate now under Auto-generation enabled in the General section opens the same dialog.

Copy a cart rule

In Marketing >> Promotions >> Cart Rules, click the copy icon of a rule. A copy is saved straight away, switched off, and opens for editing. It has the same name as the original, so rename it. Coupon codes aren't copied, so enter a new code or generate new ones.

Manage cart rules

The Cart Rules list shows each rule's ID, Name, Coupon Code, Start, End, Status and Priority, with icons to edit, copy and delete it.

What shoppers see

A rule without a coupon applies on its own as soon as the cart matches. For a rule with a coupon, shoppers click Apply Coupon in the cart and enter the code.