Operate > IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce > Promotions tool > Work with promotions
Promotions
Promotions enable you to offer customers incentives to purchase. WebSphere Commerce supports numerous types of promotions, such as price promotions including simple discounts; merchandise specials such as gifts with purchase and buy-one-get-one; and service promotions including reduced shipping costs.
Business users create and manage promotions using the Promotions tool in the Management Center.
Promotion groups
Promotions are grouped according to their type. By default, each store has three promotion groups:
- Catalog-entry level promotions
- Order-level promotions
- Ship promotions
This table lists the promotion groups, and the promotion types that make up each group. Click the link in the second column to get a description of the promotion type and detailed steps on how to create the promotion type using the Promotions tool.
Promotion groups serve the following two purposes:
- All of the promotions within a group share a common set of promotion policies.
- Promotion groups are one factor that determines the order in which the promotion engine evaluates promotions during the shopping flow to determine whether the promotion applies to the current shopping cart or order. By default, promotions are evaluated according to their promotion group in the following order:
- Catalog-entry-level group
- Order-level group
- Ship group
Promotion codes
There are two types of promotion codes: public, and unique. Public promotion codes, typically advertised in television or radio commercials, enable any customer who knows the code to use the promotion. Unique promotion codes, provided only to targeted customers, can be redeemed once.
You can select the promotion code type associated with any promotion using the promotion code specification.
Redemption methods
You can select the redemption method associated with any promotion. The choices include:
- Qualifying purchase
- Customers who have met the purchase conditions will automatically qualify for the promotion; no promotion code or coupon is required.
- Requires promotion codes
- Customers must enter a promotion code to have the promotion applied to their order.
- In the promotion code specification:
- Public promotion codes are promotion codes that can be reused by any customer, provided they know the promotion code.
To create public promotion codes:
- Select Create public promotion codes to type a reusable public promotion code, for example HOLIDAYPROMO.
- Unique promotion codes enable you to prevent customers from sharing promotion codes, and helps ensure that only targeted shoppers are given discounts.
To create unique promotion codes:
- Select Simple system-generated unique promotion codes and generate unique promotion codes by entering a prefix, code length, suffix, and the number of unique promotion codes to generate. See Simple system-generated unique promotion codes for more information.
- Select Advanced system-generated unique promotion codes and generate unique promotion codes by specifying an advanced pattern of characters to generate promotion codes. See Advanced system-generated unique promotion codes for more information.
- Select Using imported promotion codes and search for and select the previously imported promotion codes name using the Utilities view. See Import promotion codes for more information.
- Coupon promotion
- Customers must possess a virtual coupon. You can make coupons available to customers by using an e-Marketing Spot to display content that has the following predefined click action for a promotion: Add coupon to customer's coupon wallet. Another option is to create a Dialog activity that uses the Issue Coupon action. If the customer applies the coupon when checking out, the promotion is applied to the order. If you select this option, also enter a number of days after which the coupon expires. This expiration date means that customers have a limited time in which to redeem the coupon, starting from when they receive the coupon.
Combination with other promotions
Each promotion has an exclusivity setting, called Combination with other promotions. This setting governs how the promotion should be evaluated with respect to other promotions. For instance, you can configure a promotion so that it has one of the following settings:
- Combine with other promotions – stackable
- This promotion can be combined with all other promotions in an order. In addition, this promotion can be stacked on top of other promotions in the same group, which overrides certain promotion policies. Specifically:
- For catalog-entry promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, additional catalog-entry promotions can be applied to the item.
- For shipping promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, additional shipping promotions can be applied to the item.
- For order promotions: If this promotion is applied to the order, additional order promotions can be applied to the order.
- Combine with other promotions
- This promotion can be combined with all other promotions in an order; however, the following promotion policies apply:
- For catalog-entry promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, no other catalog-entry promotions can be applied to the item.
- For shipping promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, no other shipping promotions can be applied to the item.
- For order promotions: If this promotion is applied to the order, no other order promotions can be applied to the order.
- Exclusive within selected groups
This option is renamed to: Exclusive within the same group If this promotion is applied, no other promotions from the same promotion group can be applied to the order. For example, if this is a catalog-entry promotion, no other catalog-entry promotions can be applied to the order.
- Exclusive within all groups
This option is renamed to: Exclusive within an order If this promotion is applied, no other promotions can be applied to the order.
Promotion priority
You can assign a priority to a promotion. When a single order qualifies for multiple promotions from the same promotion group, the promotion with the highest priority is applied first.
To understand promotion groups, see the section earlier in this topic. In cases where multiple promotions are permitted, the promotions are applied in order according to their decreasing priority values. For example, consider a store that offers a 10% discount on the total order price promotion that has a priority of one, and a second order-level promotion that gives $15 off promotion that has a priority of 10. If a customer's order qualifies for both, the second promotion is applied first, since it has the higher priority of 10.
To assign a priority value, choose a number from 0 (lowest priority) to 1000 (highest priority).
Promotion states
There are several promotion states:
- Active
A promotion that is available to customers in the store. Any submitted orders will respect the promotions active at the time they were submitted. However, there is a possibility of a customer adding SKUs to a cart that qualify for a promotion, and that order no longer qualifying for a promotion if it is deactivated between when the SKUs are added to the shopping cart, and the order is submitted.
- Activating
- When activating a promotion that generates codes or imports them from a CSV file, the promotion is set to this state while the backend population occurs. The promotion refreshes every five seconds, providing updated information on the status of the promotion and its code population. Once promotion codes are successfully populated, you cannot repopulate promotion codes for the same promotion. That is, reactivating a promotion does not generate new codes.
- Inactive
- New promotions are inactive by default when created. Inactive promotions are not available to customers.
- Suspended
- When the total maximum redemptions are reached for a promotion; the promotion state changes to suspended. For example, if a store created a promotion with a redemption limit of 1000, the next customer who qualifies for this promotion does not receive it. The promotion state changes to Suspended. Promotions in Suspended state can be deactivated. Note that the Suspended state displays on the Promotions - List when one or more promotions are in this state.
When you change or recalculate an order, WebSphere Commerce re-evaluates the order against promotions that are currently active. As a result, a promotion that previously applied to the order might be removed from the revised order if, for example, that promotion has expired or has been deactivated. If you want the customer to receive the original promotion, manually adjust the order.
Storefront availability
To determine whether a promotion is available, the system checks the status of the promotion. If the promotion is currently in the Active state, then the evaluation continues. If the promotion is Inactive, it is considered unavailable, and is not evaluated. The next consideration is a promotion's schedule. When you create a promotion, define availability dates, which act as boundaries. Furthermore, when you create a promotion, you might optionally specify that the promotion is only available on one or more specific days of the week. In the same manner, you have the ability to define a promotion such that it is only available within a certain time period, such as between noon and 5:00 PM. If the current timestamp (according to the WebSphere Commerce Server) falls between the two availability dates, and meets the other optional scheduling criteria, it is considered available. Otherwise, the promotion is considered unavailable, and the promotion is not evaluated further.
Applicability to customers and shopping carts
When a promotion is determined to be available, it is evaluated to determine whether it is applicable to the current shopping cart. You can target specific customers by selecting one or more customer segments to either target or exclude. If the current customer is not a member of the target segment, or is a member of an excluded customer segment, then the promotion is not applicable. You must define purchase conditions during promotion creation. These conditions may be at either the catalog-entry level, or the order level. For instance, to offer a 10% price reduction on a catalog entry, the purchase condition would require that the customer's shopping cart contains the specific catalog entry. In the same manner, if you wanted to offer free shipping on orders totaling over $100, the purchase condition would require that the shopping cart total exceeds $100.
Redemption limits
You can impose limits on the promotions' applicability, called redemption limits, in three different ways:
- Maximum redemptions for this promotion
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used in total, by all customers. This could be used to define a loss-leader style of promotion that limits redemption of the promotion to the first 100 qualifying orders. When the maximum redemption limit is reached, the promotion status changes to Suspended the next time the promotion is evaluated.
- Maximum redemptions on a single order
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used in a single order. This could be used to define a promotion that limits the redemption of the promotion to the first 5 qualifying catalog entries in an order. This option has no effect on order level or shipping promotions.
- Maximum redemptions by a single customer
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used by a single customer. This could be used to define a promotion that limits redemption of the promotion to a single use per customer. For example, if you had a gift-with-purchase promotion that offered a free tie when a customer buys two dress shirts, you might only want to allow a customer to apply this promotion once on any given order. Otherwise, a customer buying ten shirts might qualify for 5 ties.
For order- and shipping-level promotions with a maximum redemption of one by a single customer, the promotion is applied to the first order placed by the customer. Subsequent orders by the same customer will not qualify for the promotion.
Redemption limits are often communicated to customers so that there are no surprises. For example, some promotions are communicated as being in effect, "while supplies last," while other limits are communicated directly, such as "Limit is two per customer." If you impose redemption limits on a promotion, consider including this information in any advertising messages to ensure accurate customer expectations.
Multiple discount ranges
For certain promotion types, you can define multiple discount ranges for a single promotion, which increases the amount, or percentage of a discount as the volume of the order grows. For example, when creating a percentage discount on a total order, you might create a promotion that offers a 5% discount on an order that totals less than $100, but offers a 10% discount on orders that total $100 or more. You can define as many ranges as necessary for the promotion.
Advertising the promotions
You can advertise promotions by creating a Web activity that uses either the Recommend Content or the Recommend Promotion action in the Management Center Marketing tool.
To do so, create content that advertises a promotion and assign it to a particular e-Marketing Spot using a Web activity. The content you create can range from simple, flat text describing the promotion, to images with actions defined for how to respond when a customer clicks on the image.
Changes in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator promotions and Management Center promotions
If you have created promotions in the Management Center, or migrated promotions from WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to Management Center, continue to use Management Center to manage those promotions.
There are several changes between Promotions functionality in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator and the Promotions tool in Management Center.
The following table shows the promotion type in the Management Center and the corresponding name in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. Promotions marked with an asterisk (*) are new for WebSphere Commerce v7:
Promotion Group Management Center promotion type WebSphere Commerce Accelerator promotion type (or closest match) Catalog-entry level promotions Percentage off the subtotal of catalog entries Percentage off per item Percentage off the subtotal of catalog entries from a category Percentage off per item Amount off the subtotal of catalog entries Fixed amount off for all Amount off the subtotal of catalog entries from a category Fixed amount off for all Buy catalog entry X, get catalog entry Y free Free gift with purchase Buy catalog entries from category X, get catalog entry Y free Free gift with purchase Buy catalog entry X, get additional X at a percentage off Buy X, get additional items at a discount Buy catalog entries from category X, get additional catalog entries from category X at a percentage off Buy X, get additional items at a discount Buy catalog entry X, get a percentage off catalog entry Y Buy X, get additional items at a discount * Buy A and B, get a percentage off both Buy X, get additional items at a discount Percentage off individual catalog entries Percentage off per item Percentage off individual catalog entries from a category Percentage off per item Amount off individual catalog entries Amount off per item Amount off individual catalog entries from a category Amount off per item Order-level promotions Percentage off an order Percentage off Amount off an order Fixed amount off Free gift with an order Free gift with purchase Ship promotions Fixed price for shipping an order Discounted shipping * Amount off shipping on an order Discounted shipping * Buy catalog entry X, get shipping at a fixed price Discounted shipping *Buy catalog entries from category X, get shipping at a fixed price Discounted shipping
Other terminology changes between WebSphere Commerce Accelerator and Management Center include:
Management Center term WebSphere Commerce Accelerator term Promotion group
- Catalog-entry-level
- Order-level
- Ship level
Promotion group
- Product level
- Order level
- Ship level
Priority A value ranging from 0 (lowest) to 1000 (highest).
Priority
- Highest
- High
- Moderate
- Low
- Lowest
Promotion status
- Active
- Inactive
- Suspended
- Active
- Inactive
WebSphere Commerce Accelerator provides reports to detail the information gathered during the current, or most recent active period. The Management Center does not provide any promotions reporting.
In the Management Center, you can select which price to use as a price adjustment base, either the standard offer price, or the contract price. In WebSphere Commerce Accelerator the contract price is used by default. Additionally, the price adjustment base selection is configured as site level. In Management Center, the price adjustment base is selection is configured by promotion, which enables you to create more dynamic business rules.
Related concepts
Related tasks
Raise customer awareness for the promotions
Activating or deactivating promotions
Browse for promotions using lists and calendars
Related reference