Shopping Cart Price Rules

Shopping cart price rules create discounts for orders at the checkout level, based on a set of conditions. The discount can be applied automatically when the conditions are met, or be applied when the customer enters a valid coupon code. When applied, the discount appears on the shopping cart page under the subtotal.

Once established, the price rule can be used as needed for a season or promotion by changing its status and date range.

Apply Coupon in Shopping Cart

Step 1: Add a New Rule

1.

On the Admin menu, select Promotions > Shopping Cart Price Rules. Then, click the Add New Rule button.

Shopping Cart Price Rules

The options in the panel on the left include Rule Information, Conditions, Actions, and Labels.

Shopping Cart Price Rule General Information

2.

Under General Information, complete the Rule Name and Description. These fields are for internal reference only.

3.

If you want the rule to go into effect immediately, set Status to “Active.”

4.

To establish the scope of the rule, do the following:

a.

Select the Websites where the promotion is to be available.

b.

Select the Customer Groups to which the promotion applies.

• To make the promotion available only to registered customers, do not select the “NOT LOGGED IN” option.
• To select multiple options, hold down the Ctrl key (PC) or Command key (Mac), and click each option.

5.

To associate a coupon with the price rule, set Coupon to “Specific Coupon.” Then, do the following:

a.

Enter a numeric Coupon Code that the customer must enter to receive the discount.

b.

To set a limit on the number of times the coupon can be used, complete the following:

• Uses per Coupon	Determines how many times the coupon code can be used. If there is no limit, leave the field blank.
  Uses per Customer	Determines how many times the coupon code can be used by the same registered customer who belongs to any of the selected customer groups. The setting does not apply to guest shoppers who are members of the NOT LOGGED IN customer group, or to customers who shop without logging in to their accounts. If there is no limit, leave the field blank.

6.

To define the “good through” date range for the promotion, do the following:

a.

Click the Calendar button next to the From Date field, and choose the first date. The promotion will start at the beginning of that day.

b.

Click the Calendar button next to the To Date field, and choose the last date. The promotion will stop at the end of that day.

7.

Enter a number to determine the Priority of this price rule in relation to the Action settings of other price rules that might be active at the same time. (Number 1 has the highest priority.)

8.

To apply the rule to published listings in RSS feeds, set Public In RSS Feed to “Yes.”

Step 2: Define the Conditions

In this step, the conditions are described that must be met for an order to qualify for the promotion. The rule goes into action whenever the set of conditions is met.

1.

In the panel on the left, select Conditions. The first rule appears by default, and states:

• If ALL of these conditions are TRUE:

The statement has two underlined links which when clicked, display the selection of options for that part of the statement. You can create different conditions by changing the combination of these values. Do any of the following:

• Click the ALL link, and select “ALL” or “ANY.”
• Click the TRUE link and select “TRUE” or “FALSE.”
• Leave the condition unchanged to apply the rule to all products.

Condition - Line 1

2.

Click the Add button at the beginning of the next line. Then, choose one of the following options from the list to describe the condition that you want to set for the rule.

• Product attribute combination
• Products subselection
• Conditions combination
• Cart Attribute

Condition - Line 2, Part 1

Example 1: Regional Price Rule

To create a regional price rule, select one of the following cart attributes:

• Shipping Postcode
• Shipping Region
• Shipping State/Province
• Shipping Country

Example 2: Shopping Cart Totals

To base the condition on shopping cart totals, select one of the following cart attributes:

• Subtotal
• Total Items Quantity
• Total Weight

When you make a selection, the basic structure of the statement appears in the box with additional links to mark where you can select information. Each underlined word is a building block that describes a different aspect of the condition.

3.

In the list under Product Attribute, select the attribute upon which the condition is based. For this example, the selected condition is “Attribute Set.”

Condition - Line 2, Part 1

For an attribute to appear in the list, its Use for Promo Rules Conditions property must be set to “Yes.”

The condition appears in the statement, followed by two more underlined links. The statement now says:

Condition - Line 2, Part 2

• If ALL of these conditions are TRUE: If an item is FOUND in the cart with ALL of these conditions true Attribute Set is …

4.

Click the is link, and select the comparison operator that is needed to describe the condition to be met. In this example, the options are “IS” and “IS NOT.”

5.

Click the ... “more” link, and choose the attribute set upon which the condition is based. The selected item appears in the statement to complete the condition.

Completed Condition

• If ALL of these conditions are TRUE: Attribute Set is Electronics

6.

To add more conditions, click the Add button and again, choose one of the following:

• Conditions Combination
• Product Attribute

Then, repeat the process until the condition is complete.

If at any time you want to delete part of the statement, click the Delete button at the end of the line.

Step 3: Define the Actions

The shopping cart price rule actions describe how prices are updated when the conditions of the rule are met.

Shopping Cart Price Rule Actions

1.

In the panel on the left, select Actions.

2.

Set Apply to one of the following discount options:

• Percent of product price discount	Discounts item by subtracting a percentage from the original price. The discount applies to each qualifying item in the cart. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount for an updated price that is 10% less than the original price.
  Fixed amount discount	Discounts item by subtracting a fixed amount from original price. The discount applies to each qualifying item in the cart. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount for an updated price that is $10 less than the original price.
  Fixed amount discount for whole cart	Discounts the entire cart by subtracting a percentage from the cart total. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount to subtract 10% from the cart total.
  Buy X get Y free	Defines a quantity that the customer must purchase to receive a quantity for free. (The Discount Amount is Y.)

3.

Enter the Discount Amount as a number, without symbols. For example, depending on the discount option selected, the number 10 might indicate a percentage, a fixed amount, or a quantity of items.

4.

In the Maximum Qty Discount is Applied To field, enter the largest number of the same product that can qualify for the discount.

5.

To determine how free shipping is applied, set Free Shipping to one of the following:

• No	Free shipping is not available for the promotion.
  For matching items only	Free shipping is available only for specific items in the cart that match the rule.
  For shipment with matching items	Free shipping is available for the entire cart when a coupon that is based on the rule is used.

6.

Set Stop Further Rules Processing to “Yes” to stop processing other rules as soon as this one is applied. This safeguard prevents customers from receiving multiple discounts for the same purchase.

7.

To define an additional action that applies to specific items in the cart, only when a specific set of conditions is met, click the Add button. Then, choose an item from the following sections in the list:

• Cart item attribute
• Price in cart
• Quantity in cart
• Row total in cart
• Product attribute (from all available in your catalog)

Add as many levels as you need to describe the conditions to be met.

8.

When complete, click the Save Rule button.

Step 4: Complete the Labels

The label appears on the order below the subtotal to identify the discount. You can enter a default label for all store views, or enter a different label for each view.

1.

In the panel on the left, select Labels.

2.

In the Default Label section, enter the text for the Default Rule Label for All Store Views.

Default Label

3.

In the Store View Specific Labels section, enter the label text for each store view. For example, if each store view is in a different language, enter the label translation for each view.

Store View Specific Labels

Step 5: Apply the Rule

1.

When complete, click the Save Rule button.

2.

When you create a new price rule, it might take an hour or so for it to become available. Allow enough time for it to get into the system. Then, test the rule to make sure that it works correctly. Unless otherwise specified, price rules are automatically processed with other system rules each night. As new rules are added, Magento recalculates the prices and the priorities accordingly.

• Field Descriptions

  Field	Description
  Rule Information
  Rule Name	(Required) The name of the rule is for internal reference.
  Description	A description of the rule should include the purpose of the rule, and explain how it is used.
  Status	(Required) Determines if the rule is currently active in the store. Options: Active / Inactive
  Websites	(Required) Identifies the websites where the rule can be used.
  Customer Groups	(Required) Identifies the customer groups to which the rule applies.
  Coupon	(Required) Indicates if a coupon is associated with the rule. Options: No Coupon No coupon is associated with the rule. Specific Coupon A specific coupon is associated with the rule. Coupon Code When prompted, enter the Coupon Code that the customer must enter to take advantage of the promotion. Use Auto Generation Select the checkbox to automatically generate multiple coupon codes which can be used with the promotion.
  Uses per Coupon	The number of times the coupon code can be used.
  Uses per Customer	Determines how many times the coupon code can be used by the same registered customer who belongs to any selected customer group. Does not apply to guest shoppers who are members of the NOT LOGGED IN customer group, or to customers who shop without logging in to their accounts. For no limit, leave blank.
  From Date	The first date the coupon can be used.
  To Date	The last date the coupon can be used.
  Priority	A number that indicates the priority of this rule in relation to others. The highest priority is number 1.
  Public in RSS Feed	Determines if the promotion is included in your store’s public RSS feed. Options:  Yes / No.
  Actions
  Apply	Determines the type of calculation that is applied to the purchase. Options: Percent of product price discount Discounts item by subtracting a percentage from the original price. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount for an updated price that is 10% less than the original price. Fixed amount discount Discounts item by subtracting a fixed amount from original price. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount for an updated price that is $10 less than the original price. Fixed amount discount for whole cart Discounts the entire cart by subtracting a fixed amount from the cart total. For example: Enter 10 in Discount Amount to subtract $10 from the cart total. Buy X Get Y Free (discount amount is Y) Defines a quantity that the customer must purchase to receive a quantity for free. (The Discount Amount is Y.)
  Discount Amount	(Required) The amount of discount that is offered.
  Maximum Qty Discount is Applied To	Sets the maximum number of products that the discount can be applied to in the same purchase.
  Discount Qty Step (Buy X)	Sets the number of products represented by “X” in a “Buy X Get Y Free” promotion.
  Apply to Shipping Amount	Determines if the discount can be applied to the cost of shipping. Options: Yes / No.
  Free Shipping	Determines if free shipping is included in the promotion, and if so, for which items. Options: No Free shipping is not available when a coupon that is based on the rule is used. For matching items only Free shipping is available only for specific items in the cart that match the rule. For shipment with matching items Free shipping is available for the entire cart when a coupon that is based on the rule is used.
  Stop Further Rules Processing	Determines if additional rules can be applied to this purchase. To prevent multiple discounts from being applied to the same purchase, select “Yes.” Options: Yes / No
  Default Label
  Default Rule Label for All Store Views	A default label that identifies the discount and can be used for all store views.
  Store View Specific Labels	If applicable, a different label that identifies the discount for each store view.