Marketing magic: how to take sales to the next level with promotions

The problem of “stagnant” shelves and the power of automation

Every business owner has faced the moment when products “sit” on the shelves and capital turns into slow-moving stock. The main barrier to launching large-scale promotions is the fear of chaos: cashier mistakes, complex manual recalculations, and the risk of selling at a loss. As a lead solutions analyst at “Torgsoft,” I state: marketing without automation is a blind game.

The software turns chaotic discounts into a transparent system where every step is under the owner’s control. We will help you move from intuitive management to data-driven marketing.

“The goal is not to give you every single detail, but to introduce the core principles and the workflow of the software.”

Discounts and strategic pricing

The fastest way to free up working capital is to set discounts for product groups. However, a professional approach starts already at the supply stage.

In the “Goods Receipt” menu item, the invoice includes a “% discount” field. As an analyst, I recommend using this field to record incoming bonuses from the supplier. This allows the software to automatically recalculate the purchase price, giving you the foundation to build aggressive retail prices without losing margin. When you know your real discounted inbound price, you can confidently run total clearance sales, knowing the exact profitability threshold.

Encouraging larger receipts

Increasing the average receipt is the art of motivating a customer to buy “a little more.” Torgsoft supports this through discount mechanics based on the purchase amount and the number of units in the receipt.

To automate the switch from retail to wholesale pricing, configure the parameter in “Settings – Parameters – Accounting” by selecting “Switch from retail price to wholesale price depending on quantity.” Only when this option is enabled will the system automatically pull the value from the “Wholesale qty” field (the quantity from which wholesale starts) in the product card. This encourages the customer to “top up” the basket to the wholesale threshold on their own, freeing the salesperson from having to persuade the buyer.

When the customer sees that it’s enough to add 1–2 more units—and the price automatically drops for all items in the receipt—they decide on their own, without persuasion. It works like a fair rule of the game: buy more—pay less. The customer feels savings, transparency, and control, while the business gets a higher average receipt without “verbal” discounts and manual arrangements.

Advanced filters for targeted promotions

A marketing lab needs precision. Using Information Filters allows you to isolate narrow segments for promotions.

The “Torgsoft” system lets you apply “NOT” condition logic. For example, you can find “dark-blue jeans that are NOT part of bundles.” Such flexibility helps you run promotions only for individual items that have been sitting too long, without touching new collections or gift sets. Filtering by manufacturer or product type helps instantly identify “problem” areas of your Accounting Center.

An entrepreneur gets precise control over promotions and prices. You don’t discount everything and you don’t “hit” fast-moving items or new collections that already sell well. Promotions work exactly where the problem is: slow-moving stock, specific brands, or specific items. This helps you clear inventory faster, return cash to circulation, and avoid losing profit due to unnecessary or uncontrolled discounts.

The art of gifts and bundles

Bundle offers (sets) are a marketing classic that increases the perceived value of a purchase. The “Pack goods” function lets you create bundles right during goods receipt. You specify how many units are included in the set and click “Calculation.” Torgsoft calculates the bundle price automatically, taking into account current product prices, wholesale thresholds, and pricing policies. As a result, the set receives a correct price without manual calculations, and at the checkout and in accounting it works as a separate product with clear logic.

An entrepreneur saves time and reduces the risk of pricing errors. You don’t need to calculate manually whether a bundle is profitable and whether wholesale pricing is included—the system does it automatically. Bundles go on sale faster, staff find it easier to work at the checkout, and the customer sees a clear set price. This helps sell more per receipt, use inventory more effectively, and keep margin under control.

The psychology of value: the cheapest item and quantity-based promotions

Mechanics like “Discount on the cheapest item in the receipt” or “The third unit is a gift” are based on the psychological desire to get a bonus. Torgsoft automates these rules in the “Sales” mode. 

When the cashier adds items to the receipt, the system checks the promotion conditions, determines which item should receive the discount (for example, the cheapest one or a specific one by order), and applies it immediately. If the conditions are no longer met, the discount is removed automatically. The cashier does not calculate anything and does not select anything manually.

Promotions work strictly by the rules, without the “human factor” and without possible abuse at the checkout. Customers buy more units because they see a clear benefit, and the business doesn’t lose money due to incorrect discounts. You increase the number of items per receipt while keeping transparent pricing logic and full control over promotion conditions.

Time marketing: promotions by time and days of the week

“Happy hours” are an ideal tool to balance store traffic during low-activity periods. “Happy hours” promotions in Torgsoft work on a clear schedule that you set in the promotion card. You specify the validity period, specific days of the week, and hours when the discount should apply. Then the system checks the current date and time at the moment of sale. If the receipt is issued within the allowed interval, the discount is applied automatically; if not, the sale goes at the standard price. The cashier does not influence this process and cannot turn the promotion “on” or “off” manually.

You can stimulate sales during “quiet” hours or on the needed days without the risk that the discount will be applied one extra time. The system strictly follows the set rules, eliminates errors and checkout abuse, and delivers a predictable result: sales growth at the right time without margin losses outside the promotion.

To analyze the effectiveness of this approach, use the “Product profit by days for the period” report. As an expert, I recommend preconfiguring “Non-working days” for your Accounting Center. This will “clean” your statistics from zero days when the store was closed, and you will get a crystal-clear picture of how time marketing affected daily profit.

Personalization: loyalty for the selected

Loyalty is built on a feeling of exclusivity. In Torgsoft, loyalty and “gamified” mechanics work right during the sale. In the “Sales” mode, the cashier scans a discount card—the system immediately pulls up the customer profile, shows their status (for example, VIP), discounts/bonuses, and automatically applies personal terms in the receipt. You can also enable the “anniversary customer” mechanic: you set the receipt number (for example, every 50th) and the discount size—the software tracks the sequence of receipts and applies the bonus automatically when the required number occurs. For “Bring a friend,” the system works via promo codes: the new customer gets a one-time benefit, and the cardholder receives bonuses for friends’ purchases.

You get loyalty without manual work and without checkout errors. Staff do not “negotiate” discounts and do not calculate bonuses—the rules apply equally to everyone, which means fewer losses and lower risk of manipulation. Customers see that they are recognized and rewarded automatically, so they return more often and buy more willingly. “Anniversary” discounts and “Bring a friend” create repeat visits and new customers without chaos: you manage the terms, and the system ensures precise execution.

Partner promotions and lotteries

Your marketing should not be limited to the walls of a single store. Partner (cross) promotions are the cheapest way to reach a new audience. Joint giveaways and lotteries based on sales data from the Torgsoft system allow you to exchange loyal customer bases with adjacent businesses, significantly expanding your reach.

In Torgsoft, partner promotions can be made manageable because the system records the customer source and allows you to build selections for a specific mechanic. To do this, you maintain partner directories (an organization and/or a specific person) and, when registering a new customer, specify who referred them. Reports are then built from these data, and for giveaways or joint promotions you select participants by conditions (period, purchase amount, specific items), export the list, or run “winning” receipts through a mechanic like the “anniversary customer.” Additionally, you can collect the acquisition source via a checkout survey so you don’t rely only on manual input in the customer card.

You see which partners actually bring customers and what money it generates, instead of assessing cooperation “by feel.” You can fairly calculate the partner reward, quickly disable ineffective channels, and scale those that work. For giveaways and joint promotions, you get a transparent list of participants according to the rules, without manual selection and without disputes with staff. As a result, partner agreements become a numbers-based process: you can plan the budget, control the outcome, and repeat successful mechanics.

Results analysis: how to know whether a promotion worked?

Marketing without numbers is an expense; with numbers it becomes an investment. 

• Start with “how many discounts did we actually give and on what”.
  Open Analysis → Discount usage analysis. Set the promotion period, choose the discount type “Promotion” (and, if needed, a specific store/accounting center). Then review: which items, how many units, what %/amount of discount, and most importantly—whether there are sales at zero or negative margin (if your report includes profit/highlighting of loss-making rows). Here you quickly see where a promotion “eats” your margin.

• Check whether the promotion brought growth rather than just redistributed sales.
  Go to Analysis → Comparative revenue analysis by product types. Set two periods: “before the promotion” and “during the promotion” of equal length (for example, 7 days before and 7 days during). Look at the “Quantity growth” and “Revenue growth” columns. If quantity grew but revenue barely did, it often means the discount absorbed the effect.

• See when exactly the promotion worked—by days or by hours.
  Open Analysis → Sales intensity analysis. Set the promotion period (and ideally add a few days before/after) and view by days or by hours (for “happy hours”—by hours). It’s important to understand whether there are sales peaks exactly in the intervals when the promotion should work, or whether sales simply “moved” from another time.

• Check the logic “price reduced—did volume compensate?”.
  Go to Analysis → Analysis of the impact of selling price on profit. Set the promotion period and, if needed, filter the product group. See how much was sold at full price, how much at a reduced price, and what profit resulted in each case. This helps you understand whether the discount really generated additional profit or only increased turnover.

• The final control is profit for the period, not “revenue looks nice”.
  Open Analysis → Profitability of sales for the period. Set the promotion period and the accounting center. Review 4 figures: Revenue, Total discounts, Profit, Profitability. This is the key report that answers: “did we earn more or did we just give away discounts”.

• For special promotions —review results separately, but still calculate the outcome through profit.
  For “Bring a friend,” open Marketing → Customers and see how many bonuses were accrued and what purchases the referred customers made. For the “anniversary receipt,” control application facts via the discounts report (item 1). Then return to Profitability of sales for the period to see what it delivered in money.

Marketing automation in Torgsoft is a shift from the strategy “hope for the best” to the strategy “calculate success.” Minimizing the human factor at the checkout and powerful analytics help the owner focus on creativity and scaling.

Are you ready to turn your store into a marketing lab where every discount delivers a guaranteed result rather than losses?