Is there a way to set up automatic discounts, such as for happy hours?

[PRM17]

Is there a way to set up automatic discounts such as for happy hours that will be applied automatically during a set time frame or under any other conditions? Thanks.

[Sean]

@Macrule - Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It definitely sounds like these would be useful features indeed (and a time saver). I'll be sure to pass this suggestions along to our product liaison team. For more details on how the feature request process works, please check out this thread. 🙂

[sdag]

New Year New Thread!

When can we expect from Square to have a simple promotional pricing feature? Seems like this is one of the major features it is missing and from a few threads (dated over a year ago) I read,  Promotional pricing could be very useful for many users especially in the bar/restaurant industry. I am sure it will help Square to sign up more customers as well.

All we are looking for is something basic.

Create multiple menus such as Menu1. Menu 2, Happy Hour, Late Night etc

Have an option to choose what menu to use which day of the week. Lets say Monday thru Friday pick menu 1 for certain hours. and pick Happy Hour menu for certain hours. Or apply a discount on certain days and certain time frames.

Lets get the ball rolling and make this happen in 2017!

[Sean]

@sdag - Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. It looks like we're tracking this feature request in this thread (went ahead and combined the two). While I can't speak to any sort of specific timeframe, I'm happy to pass along the feedback! I'll be sure to update this thread if this functionality is introduced in the future. 

[sciabica1936]

Thanks Sean!

Though I understand the need to keep some things behind the scene, it always feels nice to know that our feedback is on your radar...

It would be sweet to have a list of future features that are "Considered (not being actively worked on)", "Planned (working on with no specific ETA)" or "Imminent (with a projected ETA)".

[Schmidj]

I've just implemented the Square POS system in my bar - the learning curve was very easy and it looks as if it will work great in my situation. I too have a need for a dollar based discount for certain time frames. For now it looks as if an open discount amount will have to do. Thanks for being our end user advocate Sean!

[Sohosushi]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add this feature!  Our business desperately needs this rather than relying on employees to "remember" to do a discounted price. 

[jlotero]

Is there a way to apply discounts to all variations of an item?  Here's a case scenario for my question:

We have a shirt that comes in different colors and sizes all at the same price. The item is "Shirt"  the variations include color/size combinations (black-xs, black-s, black-m, red-xs, red-s, etc...).  I would like to place this shirt on sale temporarily and apply the discount on the dashboard rather than at the time of sale.  When the sale is over, I want to remove the discount from this shirt.  This will allow for me to control sale prices and not worry about employees forgetting to add the discount to the sale item.

I hope this makes sense.

Is there a way to do this?

Thank you

[Sean]

@jlotero - I went ahead and merged your comment with a similar thread. These sort of automatic discounts are definitely a popular feature request. While it isn't a functionality we currently offer, I'll be sure to update this thread if this changes in the future. 

[Barowner]

Please Please Please Please Please Please add a time based discount feature. If it could be applied at a category level as well, even better

[sciabica1936]

@Barowner

I hear ya!  Unfortunately, in this thread: http://bit.ly/2ke5tC5 @Sean has informed us that "this feature isn't under active development" 😞

I LOVE Square and recomend it to everyone.  But I always ask if they require auto discounts - most say they can't do without it, so they choose something else.  It's a real shame because those other softwares are always much more complicated and less user friendly.

[browneyedgal]

Can I apply discounts for specific categories for one day

[Spenser]

Hi @browneyedgal, welcome to the Community. 

There isn't currently a way to apply discounts to specific categories for a predetermined amount of time.

More customization here is definitely a popular request. I moved your post to a related thread about automatic discounts and we'll update here if this changes in the future. Thank you! 

[CynthiaJ1970]

I've requested a feature that allows you to set a specific dollar amount discount for happy hour and to set the start and end time.  

Since this feature isn't available I put in a button for the discount.  I have 2 options for happy hour on my domestic beer; $.50 price or Half off.  So in the register my beer is separated by kind, then in that section i divide it into Small tap beer, pint, can, bottle, Happy Hour 1/2 off and Happy Hour $.50.  That is the best way for right now that I can find to set these limits and to keep track of what items we sell during our happy hours.

Hope this helps!

[EJ_]

@CynthiaJ1970 Thanks so much for sharing your workaround 👍🏼

We know these workarounds aren't ideal, so hopefully we can get something implemented to help with this in our next few product updates. 

Keep an eye out for new information, as we'll be sure to update everyone if any new information comes along. 

[mtnwswbob]

I put together a web page that automatically allows this exact setup for happy hours. I own a brewery and I needed a way to manage categorical prices changes for specific days and hours during the day. After looking into the API, the best method I found was to change the prices on the items themselves instead of trying to add a discount to the transactions. MWS - Price Manager is the site.  

You can still track your happy hour sales as Square reports all variations that were used. I hope this helps.

Sample Report of 2 price points for items

[Sean]

Thanks for sharing, @mtnwswbob. It looks like you took a very thoughtful approach here!

Thanks for building this using our Items API. We'll keep the request for a built-in solution to automatic discounts on our radar, but it looks like your solution could be useful for other sellers with similar item libraries. Thanks for taking the time to post here to let everyone know! 

[ctkach]

Hi Sean -- Just because there is a solution outside of square to manage this by no means alleviates the need for a comprehensive discounting and price management tool BUILT INTO square.  While I'm sure @mtnwswbob has built this app to this best of his ability, it is still outside of square and beholden to many issues (security, availability, etc) as a result.  Please do not give the product development team a pass on this functionality just because someone external built a workaround for it.

[Kpay]

@ctkach we know this doesn't alleviate the need for having something built into Square, and are not letting up on the product development team on this one. We know it's important to you and are continuing to relay all your feedback. 

[DC_Eagle]

Square has since SHUT DOWN THIS APPLICATION, thus leaving NO OPTION WHATSOEVER for automatically timed priced changes.  This is unacceptable!   Square needs to fix this ASAP

[Bajas]

We are all wasting time with this. If you want the Happy Hour feature you basically have to pay for it now.  "Square for Restaurants" Happy Hour pricing will never happen with the free standalone square app! 

[elaine_p]

Hi @Bajas - hang in there, we've got features in the works!