Automatic discount is a promotional offer type that gets deducted from the customer's purchase at the checkout without the need for additional action or input from the customer. This makes automatic discounts generally find application by retailers and e-commerce businesses to prompt and reward purchases by consumers, increasing customer loyalty while propelling sales.
Some of the more common types of automatic discounts applied are:
- Volume discounts: These are discounts awarded based on the quantity or volume of products that a customer buys. For example, a retailer can offer a 10% discount on all purchases above $100 or an offer on selected items that when a client buys one, he or she gets another one for free.
- Tiered discounts: These are discounts graded in a manner that the more a customer buys, the higher the value of a discount. For example, a retailer may offer a 5% discount for orders over $50, 10% for those over $100, and 15% for orders over $150.
- Loyalty discounts: These automatically discount each purchase to the level of Loyalty and Rewards program members. For example, a retailer could offer all loyalty program members a 5% discount or furnish them with a free gift upon their purchase if the customer is of some level or status within the program.
- Bundle discounts: These automatically apply when a customer purchases a given combination of items or group of products. For example, after buying a group of related products together, such as a camera, lens, and tripod, one may get a 20% discount.
- Seasonal or event-based discounts: These discounts are usually given automatically from the seller on its products at some particular time of the year on the occasion of some special events or during holidays. For example, a retailer gives a 25% discount for any kind of purchase made on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
These can be applied automatically in several ways: through promotion codes, discount rules, or dynamic pricing algorithms. Most e-commerce platforms and point-of-sale systems will have settings available to allow you to create and manage automatic discounts already.
Benefits that the use of automatic discounts will include:
- Increase in sales and revenue: Advertising the business by way of automatic discounts can really be an attraction for the customers of the business to make bigger or more frequent purchases, resulting in an increase in the overall sales and revenue for the business.
- Improved customer loyalty and retention: With automatic discounts, this would improve the customer loyalty aspect much better, therefore increasing repeat purchases, since consumers would be well appreciated in their business deals and feel valued.
- Smoothness in operation and reduction in errors: Since discount automation does not involve kinds of manual interventions or inputs by employees, there is less probability of errors or inconsistency in applying discounts.
Establishing an attractive automatic discount requires careful consideration of the purposes intended for this type of promotion, taking at the target and at the same time, whether or not it negatively affects the company's profitability and margins. It would also be paramount to clearly communicate the terms and conditions of the discounts to the customers and, at the same time, monitor the performance of the discount strategy regularly in time for adjustment based on customer perception and feedback.