Limitations of Shopify Discounts

Advanced Discounting with Cart Catalyst

A Capital One Shopping study revealed that shoppers are twice as likely to purchase a product at 20% off compared to paying full price—showing how the right discount code strategy can drive conversions at the perfect time.

As a Shopify store merchant, I often find myself grappling with the platform’s discount limitations. While Shopify is great for e-commerce, its discount features can feel restrictive at times. In this post, I’ll share my experiences and highlight the challenges we face with Shopify discounts, including technical and logical restrictions, and how they can influence our promotional strategies.

Core Limitations

Active Discount Limits

The first hurdle I faced was the limit on active discounts. Shopify allows only 25 automatic discounts per store, including scheduled ones. This ceiling used to be even lower, but it was raised to provide more flexibility. Despite this increase, I frequently wish for more options to try out different promotions. For example, if I want to run a spring sale alongside a clearance discount, the limitations can restrict my efforts.

Manual Discount Caps

Working with manual discount codes presents another challenge. Each code can target a maximum of 100 specific customers, products, or variants. This cap can lead to frustration when I'm trying to create tailored discounts for certain items within a collection. Let’s say I want to encourage sales on specific products; these restrictions restrict my ability to customize offers, affecting my overall sales strategy.

No Advanced Stacking

Shopify’s policy on discount stacking is another obstacle. By default, only one automatic discount can apply per order, and stacking with manual codes is not available out of the box. Some merchants have turned to third-party apps to enable stacking, but these solutions often come with additional costs and complications. For instance, using a paid app may increase your operational expenses, which isn't ideal, especially for small businesses looking to maximize profit margins.

No Universal Product Exclusions

The inability to exclude certain products from all discounts is yet another limitation. The tools provided do not easily allow this, so more advanced exclusions typically require third-party apps or, for those using Shopify Plus, custom Shopify Scripts. When running promotions, it often becomes necessary to exclude high-demand items or slow-moving stock, but this lack of flexibility can complicate my marketing efforts.

Technical and Logic Restrictions

Limited Complex Logic

When I first used Shopify discounts, I realized that the platform's built-in features do not support complex conditions. Formats like product combinations or tiered pricing are challenging without custom apps. For example, if I wanted to offer different discounts based on order volume—say, 10% off on orders over $50 and 20% off on orders over $100—I struggled to set that up without additional coding. This challenge limits my ability to implement effective promotional campaigns.

Performance on Large Carts

Performance issues can arise when applying discounts on large carts with multiple line items. During checkout, applying discounts can slow things down, leading to a frustrating customer experience.

Research indicates that approximately 70% of customers abandon their cart due to long checkout times. So naturally, reducing speeds during this critical phase can lead to lost sales.

Concurrent Discount Functions

While Shopify allows up to 25 discount functions to run simultaneously, they operate independently, lacking awareness of one another. This presents a challenge for managing different discounts effectively, often leading to confusion. For instance, if I run a Buy One Get One 50% off alongside a standard 20% off site-wide sale, it can be complicated to ensure these promotions interact properly without causing miscommunication in discounts.

US consumers sales behavior with coupons

While Shopify’s native discount tools are useful, they fall short for more complex discounting strategies. Here are some of the key limitations:

Manual Discount Code Limitations

✔ No Auto-Application

✔ Limited Reporting Ability

✔ No Expiry Reminders

✖ Customer/Product Cap

✖ No Variant Targeting

Automatic Discount Limitations

✖ Cap on Discounts

✖ No Advanced Segmentation

✖ Exclusion Rules

✖ No Complex Logic Support

So what's the solution?

There are several Shopify Discounts apps that can help you to create advanced discounting in Shopify. You can try Cart Catalyst to create customized discounts like, Tiered discounts, Bundle discounts and Free Gifts offer.

Cart Catalyst is a robust Shopify discount app that can enhance your sales by 20-30 percent. Get your free trial here.

Wrapping Up the Discussion

Facing the limitations of Shopify discounts is challenging for many merchants. From active discount limits to technical restrictions, these obstacles can impact how we plan our promotional strategies. Although Shopify provides a solid foundation for e-commerce, understanding these limitations is crucial for optimizing marketing efforts.

Use Cart Catalyst to fill the gap and improve your sales and AOV.