Setting Up Complex Promotions in Torgsoft: «1+1=3», Discount on the Cheapest Item, and Managing Discount Priorities
Complex marketing promotions are a necessary tool for increasing the average receipt, quickly selling off remaining stock, and improving customer loyalty. The complex promotions mode allows you to automate such offers so that the cashier does not have to calculate discounts manually, while the owner can be sure that the goods are not sold at a loss.
Mechanics of «For One Item» Promotions and Choosing the Cheapest Position
To implement promotions in the «1+1=3» format, where the customer buys two items and receives the third as a gift or with a discount, Torgsoft uses the «For One Item» tab in the promotion settings.
The basis of such a promotion is the «Activating Product Group» — a list of goods that the customer must buy for the promotion to be triggered at all. You specify the number of goods from the activating group, for example, 2. This means that the first two items will be the basis, and the configured discount will apply to the third item.
To answer the question of how to apply the discount specifically to the cheapest item, the program has the corresponding setting. In the «Apply promotion to one item» field, you can choose the order: «In the order of entry» or «To the cheapest item». If «To the cheapest item» is selected, the system will automatically analyze the prices of the promotional group items added to the receipt and apply the discount to the one that costs the least.
Important nuance: entrepreneurs sometimes face a situation where, when selling goods with the same article number and exactly the same price, for example, a size range, the discount may be applied chaotically. To avoid this and clearly control the process, the program allows you to enable the «Separate discount for each item» function. It opens a table where you can strictly define the logic: 1st item — 0% discount, 2nd item — 0%, 3rd item — 100% or 50%.
How to Avoid Double Discounts: Conflict with the Customer Card
One of the most common questions is how to make sure that the customer’s regular discount does not also apply to the goods that activate the promotion. After all, if the customer has a 10% card and you give them a third item as a gift, applying a 10% discount to the first two items may make the sale unprofitable.
To solve this task, the «For One Item» tab has special switches:
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«The customer discount does not apply to goods of the activating group».
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«The product discount does not apply to goods of the activating group».
How does this work in practice?
Suppose 3 items are required to activate the promotion. When the cashier scans the first 3 items, the regular customer discount may be displayed on them. But as soon as the 4th item is added, the one that receives the promotional discount, the program «disables» the customer discount on the first three items of the activating group. If the buyer changes their mind and the cashier removes the 4th item from the receipt, meaning the promotion is canceled, the customer discount on the first three items is automatically restored.
Discount Priorities: Who Wins the Competition?
A frequent question: "I created a promotion with a 50% discount on the third item, but a customer comes with a bonus or cumulative card for 15%, and the program does not apply the promotion, leaving the customer with their 15% discount on the entire receipt".
This happens because of the mathematical logic of the system, which you can configure for your needs using the «Discount Priority Table». It is located on the right side of the promotion settings form and allows the owner to independently manage which discount is the main one.
Rules for applying priorities in Torgsoft:
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Priority levels. By default, level 0 has the highest priority, usually including the basic Product Discount. Most other discounts, such as Customer Discount, Birthday Discount, and regular Promotions, have priority level 1.
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The highest priority wins. If an item falls under several discounts, the program always chooses the one with the higher priority, meaning closer to 0.
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Competition within one level. If several discounts with the same priority apply to an item, for example, both the promotion and the customer card have priority 1, the program compares their percentages and applies the largest discount. That is why a 15% customer discount may override a complex promotion if the average discount under the promotion per item turns out to be lower.
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Manual intervention. A manual discount on the entire document, or receipt, always has priority over automatic discounts. And a manual discount set by the cashier for a specific item overrides all other settings completely.
How to solve the problem of the promotion being overridden?
For your «1+1=3» promotion to always work reliably and override any customer cards, you need to increase its priority. In the priority table, select the promotion you created and use the «Increase priority» arrow to move it to level 0, or simply above the customer discount. After that, the system will know that this promotion is the main one and will apply its conditions without exception.
Summary
For a complex promotion to work correctly and without losses for the business, you need to:
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Use the «For One Item» setting with the activating group specified.
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Choose application to the cheapest item or clearly define the percentages through a separate discount for each item.
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Be sure to disable the customer discount for goods of the activating group.
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Check the Priority Table so that the promotion has a higher rank and is not blocked by the buyer’s existing discount.
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