Few things please potential buyers more than special offers and discounts. In this article, you will learn how to offer individual products or an entire category at a reduced price for a certain period of time.
Creating a special offer
To create special offers for products and categories, proceed as follows:
- Log in to your Shopgate Admin.
- Navigate to Marketing › Special Offers.
- The next page shows a landing page for special offers. Click the Create special offer button.
- A pop-up window opens. It contains all the options you need, which you can configure as you like. Then click Add to save your settings.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: When creating special offers for categories, make sure that the discount amount is lower than all prices of the products in this category.
- That's it! Your special offer has been set up successfully. If you want to create more special offers, repeat these steps.
Configuration help
| Start Offer for | Choose whether the special offer should apply to a product or a category. |
| Product | Start typing the name of the product or category and select it from the suggestions. The product or category image then appears with some details below it. |
| Set this price for all variants (products only) | Set the option to ON to apply the offer to all variants of the product (sizes, colors). Set the switch to OFF to apply the offer only to the selected variant of the product. |
| Valid | Choose a start and end time, or click the Start immediately button. |
| Choose offer | Choose whether the discount should be given as a percentage or as a fixed amount. Enter the amount in the text field below. |
| Allow other offers | Enable this option to combine the offer with other special offers. Please use this option with care – complex rules apply to the price calculation. |
Offering several discounts for one product
If you want to create several special offers that apply to the same products, enable the option Allow other offers in all special offers you create.
What does "Allow other offers" mean?
This option means that a product is sold at a reduced price as part of several offers (at least 2). In these cases, the price is calculated using rule 1 defined by Shopgate (see below).
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An example: Your shop has 2 offers running at the same time, and one product is included in both offers: Special offer 1:
Special offer 2:
In this case, both offers are active. The product "AllStar 37882 Basketball Shoes" can be reduced by the first or the second offer. |
In this example, "Special offer 2" applies to a category that contains the product whose price is already reduced by "Special offer 1". If you want to allow the product to be reduced by both offers, the option Allow other offers must be enabled in both special offers.
Which price applies to the product if other offers are allowed?
If a product is reduced by more than one offer (all offers with the option "Allow other offers" enabled), one rule applies to the price:
- Rule #1: All offers are compared and the best (cheapest) offer is used.
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Example: A customer adds the product "AllStar 37882 Basketball Shoes" to the shopping cart while both offers are active:
The system immediately compares all active offers and finds the best offer for the customer for the product concerned.
Assuming the original price of "AllStar 37882 Basketball Shoes" is €100 (excluding VAT), special offer 2 (€80) would be €5 cheaper than special offer 1 (€85 excluding VAT). In this case, your customers see the product "AllStar 37882 Basketball Shoes" at a price of €80 (excluding VAT). |
What happens if one offer for the product allows other offers, but the other offer does not?
There are 2 important rules for this case:
- Rule #2: Offers on categories and products are treated equally.
- Rule #3: The first offer that does NOT allow other offers overrides every later offer for this product.
Based on the example above, let's now assume the following:
- "Product A" belongs to "Category B"
- The offer for "Product A" and the offer for "Category B" are valid for the same period or overlap.
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Scenario
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Offer "Product A"
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Offer "Category B"
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Result
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|---|---|---|---|
| Scenario 1 | Other offers allowed | Other offers not allowed |
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| Scenario 2 | Other offers not allowed | Other offers allowed |
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| Scenario 3 | Other offers not allowed | Other offers not allowed | The product price is reduced based on the offer that was created first. |
| Scenario 4 | Other offers allowed | Other offers allowed | Both offers are considered. The better (cheaper) offer is used. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an offer for a category also apply to its subcategories?
Yes. If a special offer was created for a specific category, the offer also applies to all of its subcategories.
Do tier prices* still apply if a product has a special price?
No. As a general rule in the Shopgate system, special offers always have higher priority. In other words: as soon as a special offer is created for a product, the regular prices are ignored for the duration of the special offer. As soon as the special offer period ends, the tier prices you set up apply again.
*Tier prices are a price rule for selected shop systems (currently available for Magento, PrestaShop, Shopware and Oxid). With tier prices, you can offer discounts when a customer buys a product more than once.
Why is a product shown with the wrong discount?
If a product shows a different sale price from the one you set, the product is probably currently included in one or more other promotions.
If you want to assign a (fixed) discount to a product, please check that the option "Allow other offers" is switched off. Only when this option is off is the product excluded from other promotions and keeps the offer you set.
What should I do if a product has a negative total after the discount?
If a product's price is negative, please check whether the product belongs to a category that currently has an active special offer. If so, one of the following 3 solutions will help:
- Set the discount to a value lower than the product's original price.
- Set the discount as a percentage.
- Delete the offer for the category and create an offer specifically for the product instead. Also disable the option "Allow other offers". Then create the previously deleted category offer again. The product is no longer included in this offer.