Volume Discounts

How to offer Shopify volume discounts with high conversion strategies?

Last updated on

April 24, 2024

Everybody likes discounts, don�t we? Being a Shopify store owner, you have a great chance to entice customers with discounts to sell more. To start off, you can install a Shopify volume discounts app that integrates discounts in your store. 

The good news is - volume discounts are an effective upsell strategy to increase the average order size of your Shopify store.  By offering volume discounts when customers wish to buy more of a single product, you can sell more of them.

In this blog, you will get to know practical strategies to create effective volume discounts, types, and tips to promote volume discounts to your customer.

Increase your cart value by offering volume discounts.

What is a Shopify Volume discount?

A volume discount is a special discount offered to customers who purchase larger quantities of a product on your Shopify store. 'The more you buy, the more the discount' is how volume discounts work. 

This is how a tiered volume discount can be offered to your customer through tiers:

For example, if a shirt cost $ 40 here's how the volume discount will be applied for a purchase of 3 shirts:

How to create volume discounts with a Shopify app?

We've installed a Volume discount Shopify app called the "Volume Discounts- Dealeasy". The procedure to add Volume discounts is more or less the same in all the Shopify apps. So, here's how you can add volume discounts to your Shopify store.

Step 1: Install the Volume Discounts app from the Shopify app store

Step 2: After the installation and initial setup, you can create volume discounts.  

Step 3: Add an offer title and create different tiers offering volume discounts.

For example, if the customers buy 2 products, they get a 10% discount; when they buy 3, they get a discount of 15%, and so on. 

Step 4: Select the products you wish to display the tiered volume discounts. You can select all products, specific products, collections, and tags. You can also set the start and end dates of the volume discount offer to be displayed. 

Step 5: Here's what a tiered volume discount looks like on your Shopify store. Once a customer adds the products to the cart, the volume discount will be applied. 

Types of volume discount strategies for your store

Apart from the volume discount discussed above, here are other types of volume discount strategies you can offer in your store. 

1. Volume Pricing by reducing per unit rate

Volume pricing is a strategy where the price of a product decreases as the quantity purchased increases. It encourages customers to buy larger quantities by offering them a lower price per unit.

For example, if a shirt cost $ 10 here's how the volume discount will be applied for a purchase of 3 shirts:

2. Volume pricing through different ranges of quantities

This method works in a way that the per-unit rate of the products is reduced for every consecutive tier. The specific price is applied only for one tier and the next tier will have a different rate per unit.

For example, if a shirt cost $ 10 here's how the volume discount will be applied for a purchase of 10  shirts.

3. Volume pricing through "Buy X, Get Y" strategy

This strategy allows you to offer a product for free when customers buy a specific number of products. You can define the rate of the products and encourage customers to buy more products.

For example, when you buy 2 shirts worth $10, you get a third shirt worth $10 for free. 

4. Volume discount on reaching a threshold price or quantity

You can offer specific threshold discounts when customers buy products priced more than a certain value. Another way of doing this is deducting a fixed price instead of offering discounts

For example, when customer's total bill value exceeds $600, you can either offer a discount of 10% or reduce $100 from the total bill value. 

5. Volume discounts are offered through fixed amounts

Fix a specific price for a set of products instead of displaying discount prices to the customers. Moreover, this upsells discount strategy is very flexible and is suitable for businesses like apparel, jewelry, footwear, etc.

6. Volume discounts for service-based subscriptions

Apart from e-commerce products, volume discounts can be used in service-based businesses such as SaaS, OTT platforms, and more. The more subscriptions customers make, the lesser the rate of the plan compared to individual subscriptions.

For example, you can offer subscription plans in different volumes such as

7. Volume discounts for logistics and courier services

If you own a logistics company, you have the opportunity to provide volume discounts to customers who ship packages in larger quantities. This allows customers to opt for bulk shipping, encouraging them to send their products or goods all at once. 

8. Membership-based volume discounts for saloons and spas

You can offer volume discounts through special membership programs for businesses like salons, spas, or beauty parlors. By offering membership-tiered pricing, you can define a customer's number of visits within a designated period such as a month or year. 

For example, a saloon offers membership programs with the benefit of multiple visits. While the standard rate for one visit is $ 20, here's the membership rate with volume discounts.

Few examples of Volume discounts

Here are a few examples of how volume discounts can be offered in your store.

Source: Shopacado - Volume discounts demo store
Source: Shopacado - Volume discounts demo store
Source: VolumeBoost - Volume discount demo store

What are the benefits of offering Shopify volume discounts?

Boost sales of slow-moving products

Yeah, we know some products do not sell more than the rest. Fret not! By offering volume discounts you can sell more of the slow-moving products effortlessly.

Increases your order size

This might sound repetitive but this is true. Volume discounts encourage customers to add more to their cart and buy more products. Thus your store generates more revenue and profitability.

Attracts more customers

Volume discounts attract new customers to your Shopify store over competitors.  When consumers save money through volume purchases, they�re enticed to return for future purchases.  Word of mouth plays a key role as well!

Boosts wholesale market

Wholesale customers are more inclined to make larger purchases due to the cost savings they can achieve through volume discounts. This opens an excellent opportunity to offer tailored discounts to wholesale customers.

Increased customer retention and loyalty

By offering volume discounts, customers are more likely to repeat purchases and become committed customers. Moreover, it increases brand loyalty and awareness through word of mouth. Do it and you can see them coming back.

Factors to keep in mind while offering volume discounts

When offering volume discounts on your Shopify store, here are a few factors you must consider to offer profitable volume discount offers.

Track the profit margin

Ensure that the volume discounts allow you to maintain a reasonable profit margin. While discounts can attract more customers, balancing between enticing offers and maintaining profitability is important.

Let customers know their savings

Good hack to make your volume discount box effective is by adding the percentage of the money they save by taking the volume discount. This quickly makes customers realize the amount they save thereby boosting your sales conversion. 

Clear discount structure

Communicate the discount structure to your customers. Specify the quantity thresholds and corresponding discounts, ensuring customers understand how the pricing will change as they increase their order quantity.

Monitor your store's inventory 

Make sure to keep track of your inventory levels since discounts can generate more orders thereby creating increasing demands. When you run out of stock for discounted items, customers get disappointed.

Set limits for the offers

Determine a minimum quantity that customers can purchase to cover your costs and gain profits. Without proper planning, you might lose track of your profit margin.

Bonus tips to structure your volume discounts widget

Every store has a unique business model. Take a look at these tips and try the best ones that suit your Shopify store. 

Display the percentage (%) saved for low-value products

For low valued products, you can offer volume discounts by displaying the percentage of money they save instead of displaying the exact amount in dollars. 

Display the amount ($) saved for high-value products

When you display the exact amount saved by the customers, they are more convinced by the volume discounts for high-value products. 

Highlight free shipping on bulk buying

If you offer a free shipping feature when customers buy bulk products, make sure to highlight it. Let customers know the moment they see the offer. 

Use per-unit rate to display the savings

In the volume discounts offer widget, you can highlight the savings in per unit rate of the products customers buy.

How to market volume discounts on your Shopify store?

The home page offers announcements

Let your customers know you're offering volume discounts when they enter your website. Your home page is the right place for you to display discount notifications. Use phrases like Buy more! Save more!, Bulk buying! Mega savings! and Buy more! pay less!

Create a sense of urgency in your offers

By default, every volume discount shopify app allows you to display discounts on the product page or cart page. You can customize the volume discounts with compelling messages that create a sense of urgency with phrases like offer ends soon, limited offer, etc.

Send email notifications for your offers

You can send emails to your customers about the volume discounts you offer. Let them know you're offering good discounts, especially for them. But remember not to overdo it since customers can get frustrated with too many promotional emails. 

2x your sales with tiered discounts.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, a Shopify volume discounts app can be a game-changer for boosting sales and increasing the average order size of your store. Try implementing these strategies to offer discounts that encourage customers to buy more. Stay tuned for more valuable updates on Shopify apps and features!

Written by
Ridhu Pharan
Content Creator
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