What Is a Promotion? Price vs Non-Price Deals

Promotion in the 4 Ps vs in Your Store

In the "4 Ps" of marketing (product, price, place and promotion), promotion covers ads, emails, social posts, PR and more. In a store, "a promotion" is a sales promotion with an end date. That's our focus here.

Price and Non-Price Promotions

Price promotions cut what the shopper pays. Think percent off, dollars off, BOGO deals or a bundle price. Non-price promotions add something instead, like a gift with purchase, free samples or loyalty points.

Either way, shoppers get a reason to buy now. You just need to know what that reason costs you.

Example: 20% Off vs a Free Gift at a Candle Shop

A candle sells for $40 and costs you $16, so you keep $24. In a normal week you get 50 orders and $1,200 in profit. Say every order that week gets the deal.

20% off: the price drops to $32 and you keep $16. It takes 75 orders to match a normal week, so 25 extra.
A free wick trimmer that costs you $5: the price stays at $40 and you keep $19. You'd need 64 orders to match, 14 more than usual.

A gift can feel worth more to the shopper than it costs you. That still doesn't tell you which deal brings in more buyers. An A/B test on your own store can.

Running a Promotion on Shopify

Many Shopify promotions start in your admin under Discounts. You create a code or an automatic discount and give it start and end dates. When the end date passes, it stops applying.

Want a sale price instead? Lower the price and put the old one in the compare-at price field. Many themes will show the old price crossed out. After that, let shoppers know with a banner, an email or an ad.

Our app, Growth Suite, can run event-based, store-wide campaigns and tiered discounts based on how much a shopper spends. If you're working out when to run what, start with our guide to planning holiday promotions year-round and this holiday calendar of key sales dates.

Promotion, Offer, Discount or Campaign?

People use these words like they're interchangeable, but they aren't.

An offer is the deal itself, say 15% off or a free gift.
A discount is one kind of offer: a lower price.
A promotion takes the offer and adds dates plus a way to tell people.
Then there's a campaign, the bigger plan. It often holds several promotions and emails around one event, like Black Friday.