WebStore promotions enable customers to receive discounts on their orders by entering a promotional coupon code during the checkout process. You can set expiration dates for promotions, the maximum number of times they can be used, and a minimum order amount to be eligible for a discount. Note that the minimum order amount is based on the total order, but is calculated on an item basis at checkout. Using promotions, you can discount any items (note that promotions override the setting that items may be individually marked in RMS as non-discountable.)
Two different methods exists for passing this discount to RMS:
- The original method was to discount the first line item by up to the value of the web coupon then subsequent line items by any remaining value until the coupon was used up. This can result in rounding errors and possible conflict with other RMS add-ons including warning about lower price bounds being breached.
- The newer method is to pass the web coupon as a negative value line item to RMS. This gets over the rounding errors, the possibility of being overwritten by other RMS add-ons (Looking at you New West Technologies!) and items being reduced to less than their minimum price.
1. The first method - discounting line items up to the value of the web coupon
When tendering the order, RMS assigns the discount reason code WEBPROMO to the items that are discounted as a result of a promotion code. Using the standard RMS reporting system, you can create reports of promotional activity.
Note: You must ensure that the âWEBPROMOâ exists in RMS SO Manager under Database, Discount Reason Codes. The method GetWebOrders uses to apply WebCoupons in RMS does not to function on newer versions of RMS( 2.0.0150+).
To add a promotion, perform the following steps:
- Log in to NitroSell WebStore Manager. To do so, open NSc Sync.
On the main window, click the arrow next to My WebStore, then select Visit WebStore Manager; - The WebStore Manager Login page is displayed. Enter your NSc Sync credentials (user name and password), then click Login.
- On the Welcome page, from the navigation menu, under Management, select Promotions.
- The list of currently configured promotions is displayed.
- If the message âPromotion codes are not enabled on your WebStoreâ is displayed, click below the message to enable promotion codes.
- To edit the properties of an existing promotion, select the promotion name.
- To add a new promotion, select Add Promotion.
- On the Add WebStore Promotion page, enter the Promotion Name;
- To generate a new random promotion code, click Generate Code.
- Enter the Discount Type (either Amount Off or Percentage Off), and the Discount Amount.
- If this promotion requires a minimum amount to be spent before it can be used, specify this value in Minimum Order Value.
- If there is a maximum number of times that this promotion can be used, specify the appropriate value for Max Usage Count, otherwise, leave this value set to 0.
- If you select Expiration Date, you can specify the date after which this promotion expires. For example:
New September 2012
It is now possible to disable a web coupon for customers on certain price levels. This allows a shop to make web coupons that only apply to certain price levels, for example, if store staff have a price level A, then web coupons can be made for them, or to exclude them.
Click Save Details. Your new promotion is added to the Current Promotions list.
Restricting Promotion codes using Rules
If you wish to restrict the use of a promotion code e.g. if the item is in a certain department you would apply a rule as follows :
The promotion does not apply if:
Item Department Is Equal To Books
Item Department Is Equal To Classes
Please note that in such a case you also need to set a rule which applies the rule i.e.
The promotion applies if:
Item ItemLookupCode Is Not Equal To 0
To avail of a promotion, the customer must specify the appropriate promotional code at WebStore checkout. On the Delivery Information page, specify the code, for example:
Once youâve specified the code, the discount is displayed in the Shopping Cart, for example:
To disable promotional codes on your WebStore, in NitroSell WebStore Manager, select Disable promotion codes.
Using Rules with Customer Custom Text Fields
If you would to use promotion codes rules based on the Customer Custom Text Fields in RMS youâll need to be sure youâve made that field available in the webstore. Youâll need to following the procedure below to add the field in NSc Sync which in turn transfers the information in the custom text field up to the web and make it available in the promo code rule configurator.
- In NSc Sync Configuration, under Advanced, select Field Mappings;
- Right-click Customer, then select Add Field, then Standard Field.
- For Remote Field Name, enter customer_customtext1. For Field Source, enter customer.customtext1
- Click Validate
- Click OK, then re-synchronize your webstore
- The information in RMSâs customer custom text field is now available for promotion code rules.
Having a web coupon show as a line item on your POS
Because of the way the standard discounting works, there is a possibility of rounding errors occurring at the POS. To get round this the webstore allows you to collect the discounts applied as a result of web coupons into a line item called web-promotion.
To set this up you need to create an item called promotion_discount in your POS system. Ensure you have plenty of them in stock, set the price of them to 0 and ensure that they get to your web store. I donât put them into a department or category so they cnât be found by a user browsing your store.
In the WSM web Promotions page the interface will recognize when you have this item on your store and offer you the option of discounting as shown here.
Simply click on the link to enable the option. Run a test transaction through to your POS and you will find your promotion_discount including in the basket with a negative amount associated with it representing the discount applied.