Discounts Product Team Q&A: Ask us anything about Discounts!

[Tom]

On October 27th, 2021, our Discounts product team hosted a Q&A focused on sellers who use Point of Sale, Square for Retail, Square for Restaurants, Appointments, and Invoices.

We're aware that many sellers have questions and requests related to setting up discounts within the mobile app as well as the online Square Dashboard. We appreciated learning about what's going well and where there is room for improvement. We can't share out specific details on our product roadmaps, though we will certainly make sure all of the posts that came through on this thread are incorporated into the decision process. 

A few example questions:

• What's the best way to set up a discount for a limited time sale?
• What's the best way to manage my discounts if I have multiple product bundle offerings?
• I need a discount that does "______" — what is your best suggestion?
• I wish I had "______" reporting for my discounts.

[kwoodlock]

Hi @GraniteOak,

I want to understand your use case a bit better. Are you hoping for a buyer to add the discount themselves on your booking page, through the use of a discount code for example?

[GraniteOak]

@kwoodlock ,  I would like the ability to create a discount code that a customer could use  when scheduling an appointment instead of having to create a new service and hide the full price one.  It would also be nice to let customers use gift cards on checkout as well.

[Marnie1]

I wish I could add a discount for specific VIP customers. I have 2 levels of customer that get either 10% or 15% off all items all year based on their Holiday order volume. I would be great to add a permanent discount to a customer profile.

[amjessey]

Hi @Marnie1 

I have made a similar request before in another post. 

[akmatthews]

Hi @Marnie1 and @amjessey

We offer an auto-discount feature for Customer Groups that can be created on Dashboard; you can create them from Customer Directory and Discounts. If you create your 2 VIP groups in your directory, you can create an auto-applied discount for each group. Learn how here. 

Would like to hear more about the “Holiday order volume” piece of this use case. Can you tell us more?

[BookshopMeg]

I have Square for Retail and would appreciate the following discount capabilities:

• Ability to exclude certain items from discounting
• Apply a discount based on dollar amount spent (similar to current discount based on quantity purchased)
• Add a free item to an order over a specific dollar amount (ex: free tote bag for orders of $50 plus)

Thank you!

[beefolks]

YES!!!  We give a free tote bag for purchases over $100, and otherwise sell them for $3.  Right now, we have to add the item in, then discount it, in order to keep track of inventory.  Would love to be able to add it automatically to the order and track it properly in inventory without relying on my cashiers to add it properly.

[kwoodlock]

Hi @BookshopMeg,

• Exclude certain items from discounting: this functionality is not currently available but we have heard this request from many sellers and will be evaluating it for our roadmap.
• Discounting by minimum spend amount: this feature is coming very soon.
• Free tote bag: thank you for the feature suggestion! It is not on our roadmap but we will certainly evaluate it. If you had minimum-spend discounts available, would this partially cover your need? E.g. "100% off tote bag on orders more than $50" – you would still have to add the tote bag, but the discount would apply automatically. @beefolks – this one also to yours.

Thanks for the feedback, I'd love to hear more!

[beefolks]

I think the minimum spend would resolve the issue for us!

[amjessey]

How can we create advanced discount rules that adhere to two or more variables as explained here?

Thank you

[kwoodlock]

Hi @amjessey,

This is on our roadmap to offer in our first-party products. This can already be achieved through our third-party developer API, documentation for which can be found here ... But for sellers who want to configure these discounts via Dashboard or Point of Sale, that functionality is coming.

[beefolks]

I really need the discounts for the online square website to match the discounts in the square register.  When is that expected to happen?  It is the only thing holding me back from repointing my web address to square online, and I was hoping it would be in time for the holiday season.

[kwoodlock]

Hi @beefolks,

We are actively working on merging the discounts offered online and in person. While I cannot speculate on the final delivery date, I can say that it won't be available this year. Can you share what your biggest pain point is here? Is it in the way discounts apply to the sale, the way they appear in your sales reports, something else? We'd like to know what the biggest pain points are for sellers so we can prioritize features appropriately.

[amjessey]

When are we going to be able to create an invoice with a £0 value?

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Feature-Requests-Point-of-Sale/How-do-you-create-an-invoice-with-...

Thank you.

[kwoodlock]

Hi @amjessey,

I don't know the answer to your question but I'll forward this feedback along to the Invoices team.

[amjessey]

Please do. It's been a long time without any comment from your Invoices team on this point and it would be good to hear when this very basic functionality is going to be built.

Thank you.

[meggyj113]

Hello! 

I have a small salon and am trying to figure out the best way to bundle products together to create a gift pack for holidays or just move product. 

I would like to create a discount that I could add 3 products together and it would create a discount to it whether its online or in store. Ideally if it could automatically add the discount to it. I was looking at the "Discount Rules" as I've used them before for other discounts but wasn't sure which direction to go with this one. 

[kwoodlock]

Hi @meggyj113,

Square offers the ability to create volume-based automatic discounts that will apply in-store (like 20% off 3 of some category of items). These discounts are not yet available on your online storefront, but we are actively working on closing that gap.

[mythicrunning]

I'd like it if the discounts did NOT stack.  We have a several straight up % discounts and others that are essentially BOGO.  If a customer buys the BOGO item and qualifies for the % discount, the BOGO discount is increased by the % UNLESS the % discount is applied to each individual item rather than the entire sale (hence, the % discount increases).  When the discounts automatically stack, my already slim margin shrinks.  

I'd also like to add categories but exclude items within categories because it is often easier to exclude items or categories than to include them.  

 The whole process of setting up discounts is frustrating. 

[kwoodlock]

Hi @mythicrunning,

Am I understanding correctly that you are combining an automatic BOGO discount with a manually-applied % discount? Can these other discounts be represented as an automatic discount in some way (like turn an employee discount into a customer group based auto discount)? This would prevent the discounts from stacking on the same items.

We are starting work to make discount stacking more configurable, so it would be very helpful for us to understand your use case.

Another question: let's say there is a 20% discount applied to a purchase that also has a BOGO discount. Would you want the 20% discount excluded from the discounted item in the BOGO only, or from both the discounted item and the full-price qualifying item?

We have heard loud and clear from you and other sellers that you want the ability to exclude certain items from getting discounts, and we'll evaluate this as a feature.

[sfcsu]

Can a customer use more than one discount or coupon for an online order?