In this series we will cover in detail the Magento promotions creation abilities. We will show how to create simple and advanced Magento promotions with out-of-the-box features.

Later on, we will create even more advanced promotions using our advanced promotions extension.

Part 1 - percentage, fixed, and the fixed discount for the whole cart

Magento is a very powerful e-commerce platform used by more than 130,000 live websites worldwide. One of its powerful features is its advanced promotions engine. However, it has some limitations.

In this part of the guide, we will explain about the most basic promotion types in Magento - the percentage discount, the fixed discount, and the fixed discount for the whole cart.

Where are the promotions located in Magento?

Let's first look at where we can find the list of promotions in Magento.

Go to “Marketing → Cart price rules” in your Magento admin panel. This is where you configure all your cart-based promotions.

Note: Magento's name for promotions is “cart price rules”, therefore, we will be using the term “promotion” and “cart price rule” interchangeably in this guide.

What advanced promotions are possible to create with out-of-the-box Magento 2?

With out-of-the-box Magento 2 you can create some advanced promotions. These are:

• Percent discount
• Fixed discount
• Fixed discount for the whole cart
• Buy x, get y free (of the same product)

We will examine each of the promotion types separately in a few seconds. But before that, let's discuss the top fields of the promotion configuration, which are located under the “Rule Information” tab.

The top fields of the promotion

These fields define the promotion's general behavior—what websites it will be active at, what customer groups it will target, and the dates it will be active.

Let's go through each field in detail.

* The “Rule Information” tab in the cart price rule configuration

• Rule name - this is the name of the rule. It will be used in the promotions list in the admin panel. It will also be shown to the customer in the cart, in the case when the promotion was applied in the cart (if there are labels defined in the “Labels” tab, they will be shown in the cart instead)
• Description - the description of the promotion - is used for internal purposes only.
• Active - if the “Active” switch is set to “No,” the promotion will be inactive
• Websites - defines in what websites the cart price rule is valid
• Customer Groups - defines what customer groups the Magento cart price rule is valid for
• From / To - defines in what date range the rule is valid
• Priority - the promotions in Magento are being applied by order of priority, from the lowest value to the highest. That is, to make the cart rule apply first, set it to 0.

Now, let's return to the promotion types and special promotions you can create with Magento.

Percent discount

This promotion type allows a percentage discount on the whole cart or the matching products.

Let's look at a few examples of some simple and some advanced promotions with the percent type.

“Apply a 10% discount on the whole cart”

This is the simplest promotion type. It applies a 10% discount on the whole cart.

Promo configuration

To configure it, choose “Percent of product price discount” -

Insert 10 in the amount field, and save the promotion.

Promo results

If we go to the cart, we will see that a 10% discount is applied to all items in the cart -

* The discount displayed in the items (marked by the blue ellipse) is not shown in Magento out-of-the-box.

* If you want to add this feature, we suggest you look into our advanced promotions plugin for Magento - which contains this and many other helpful features.

“Apply a 10% discount on bags”

This promo is a bit more advanced—it applies a 10% discount on bags. Let's see how to configure it.

Promo configuration

Similarly to the previous example, we select “Percent of product price discount” and insert 10 in the “Amount” field.

Additionally, we add the condition for the items that will get the discount, which is the bags category in our case.

To add the condition, go to the “Actions” tab and scroll down to “Apply the rule only to cart items matching the following conditions (leave blank for all items).”

Afterward, configure the condition:

Save the cart rule.

Promo results

If we go to the cart, having the same items as before, we will see that a 10% discount is applied only to the bag:

* Out-of-the-box, Magento doesn’t display discounts in the mini cart (marked by the blue ellipse).

* If you want this feature on your site, we suggest you look into our advanced promotions plugin for Magento 2, which contains this and many other valuable features.

Fixed amount discount

This Magento shopping cart price rule allows you to apply a fixed discount per matching item. If there are no conditions in the “Actions” tab, every item in the cart will match, so every item in the cart will get a discount.

Let's see an example.

“Apply a $1 discount on every item in the cart”

This promotion applies a $1 discount to every item in the cart. For example, if you have three items in the cart, the discount will be $3.

Let's see how to configure this promo.

Promo configuration

Choose “Fixed amount discount” in the “Apply field -

Set “1” in the “Amount” field (for the $1), and save the cart rule.

Promo results

In the cart, we see that we got a $3 discount. $1 was applied to the t-shirt and $2 to the bag (because we added two bags).

“Apply a $1 discount on bags only”

Similarly to the example in the percent discount, we want to narrow the matching items to bags only.

Promo configuration

As we saw already, it is done by adding a condition in the “Actions” tab -

Save the promotion.

Promo results

In the cart, we see that we got a $2 discount - because the quantity of the bags is two.

Fixed amount discount for the whole cart

This magento shopping cart rule applies a fixed discount for the cart (unlike the fixed amount discount, which is applied per matching item).

Although it is quite a basic promotion, it comes in handy when combined with the advanced conditions engine that Magento has built-in.

Let’s see an example of such a promotion.

“Apply a $10 discount on orders above $100”

This promotion will apply a $10 discount on orders whose subtotal is above $100.

Promo configuration

In the “Apply” field, we select “Fixed amount discount for whole cart”, and in the “Discount Amount” we insert 10.

To define the condition “on orders above $100”, we will go to the “Conditions” tab, click on the “plus” and select “Subtotal”, “equals or greater than”, 100.

Save the cart rule.

Promo results

Now, if we add items to the cart with a total cost of $100 or more - we will get a $10 discount -

* Out-of-the-box, Magento doesn’t display the list of the discounted products in the discount line (marked by the blue ellipse), it only displays the name of the promotion.

* If you want this feature on your site, we suggest you look into our Additional Promotions extension for Magento 2, which contains this and many other exciting features.

Part 1 wrap-up

In this part we looked at the most basic Magento promotion types - the percentage discount, the fixed discount, and the fixed discount for the whole cart. We also had a brief look at the Magento conditions engine.

In the next chapter, we will talk about the “Buy x get y” Magento promotion, it’s abilities and limitations.

We will also create even more complex and advanced promotions using the Magento condition engine.