--- title: "Coupons & Promotions | Commerce Engine" description: "Build coupons and automatic promotions with flexible discounts, customer eligibility, schedules, and redemption limits. Connect every offer to your checkout." canonical_url: "https://www.commercengine.io/features/coupons-and-promotions" --- > Commerce Engine site index: https://www.commercengine.io/llms.txt # Coupons & Promotions Commerce Engine runs coupon codes and automatic promotions: percentage and fixed discounts, spend-and-save offers, free shipping, buy X get Y, free gifts and volume offers. Each comes with customer eligibility, schedules and redemption limits, and is applied to the cart at checkout. ## Coupon and promotion types A coupon is applied using a code. An automatic promotion is reflected in the returned cart when its conditions are met, with no code to enter. - **Percentage off**: A percentage discount across your catalogue, selected products or categories, with a cap to keep the saving within your plan. - **Fixed amount**: A set amount off an eligible basket, paired with a minimum spend that fits your offer. - **Spend and save**: Spending tiers with their own rewards, so customers have a reason to reach the next threshold, with a cap across the offer. - **Free shipping**: Remove a checkout cost. Define when the basket qualifies and let the reward follow your conditions. - **Buy X, get Y**: Connect a qualifying purchase to a free or discounted item. - **Free gifts**: Add a reward based on eligible spend or quantity. - **Volume offers**: Product discounts at different quantity levels. - **Bonus rewards**: An accelerated-rewards coupon that offers bonus loyalty points. Coupons support percentage or fixed-amount discounts, tiered discounts, free goods, fixed-price offers, free shipping, buy X get Y, volume-based offers and accelerated rewards. Automatic promotions support discounts, free goods, buy X get Y, volume-based offers and free shipping. Your storefront uses the eligibility and final amounts the cart API returns. **Docs:** [Create coupon API](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/admin/api-reference/coupons-&-promotions/create-coupon) · [Create promotion API](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/admin/api-reference/coupons-&-promotions/create-promotion) ## Eligibility, schedules and limits Choose who an offer is for, when it runs and how far it goes. - **Audience**: Eligibility can apply to everyone, named customers, segments or customer groups, with a separate first-time-customer condition. - **Product and category eligibility**: Limit an offer to the products or categories it is meant for. - **Visibility**: Public or private coupons. - **Timing**: Start and expiry timestamps for a seasonal launch or a weekend promotion, with an optional open-ended expiry. Prepare offers as drafts, then activate them on the schedule you want. - **Redemption limits**: Total redemptions, usage per customer and usage per code. - **Combining offers**: Decide whether a coupon can combine with promotions, and how promotions work together, with promotion priority and discount caps. **Docs:** [Campaign controls](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/admin/api-reference/coupons-&-promotions/create-coupon) **See also:** [Customers & Loyalty](https://www.commercengine.io/features/customers-and-loyalty.md) ## Checkout integration The offer becomes a saving in the cart. Follow a code from eligibility to an updated cart, with automatic promotions reflected along the way. - **Find the offers that fit** (`GET /carts/{id}/evaluate-coupons`): Evaluate coupons against a cart. Get applicable offers with estimated savings, plus reasons and suggestions for those that do not qualify. - **Apply a customer's code** (`POST /carts/{id}/coupon`): Apply or remove a coupon through the cart API, and display the returned cart so the customer sees the current discount and payable amount. - **Show the returned cart** (`GET /carts/{id}`): Use the returned cart for the final discount and payable amount. Automatic promotions are reflected here too. **Docs:** [Evaluate coupons](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/api-reference/carts/evaluate-coupons) · [Apply coupon](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/api-reference/carts/apply-coupon) · [Retrieve cart](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/api-reference/carts/retrieve-cart-detail) ## Coupon reporting Follow the offer through to redemption. - **Redemptions over time**: Redemption counts and values for a date range, by hour, day, week or month. - **Orders and customers**: Look up the orders and customers associated with a coupon to understand how it was used. **Docs:** [Coupon metrics API](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/admin/api-reference/metrics/retrieve-coupons-stats) **See also:** [Analytics](https://www.commercengine.io/features/analytics.md) ## FAQ ### What is the difference between a coupon and a promotion? A coupon is applied using a code. An automatic promotion is reflected in the returned cart when its conditions are met. Both let you define offer conditions; their available types and combination settings differ. **Docs:** [Cart guide](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/storefront/cart) ### Which kinds of offers can we create? Coupons support percentage or fixed-amount discounts, tiered discounts, free goods, fixed-price offers, free shipping, Buy X Get Y, volume-based offers, and accelerated rewards. Automatic promotions, which need no code, support discounts, free goods, Buy X Get Y, volume-based offers, and free shipping. ### Can coupons and promotions be combined? You control whether a coupon can be used with a promotion and whether a promotion can combine with other promotions. Promotions also have a priority setting. This does not imply that multiple coupon codes can be stacked on a single cart. ### Can an offer be limited to certain customers? Yes. Eligibility can target specific customers, segments, or customer groups, with a separate first-time-customer condition. Offers that depend on customer history or group membership may require the shopper to log in. ### How do we control dates and redemption limits? Set a start timestamp and an optional expiry, plus limits for total redemptions, redemptions per customer, and redemptions per code. Coupons are created as drafts; activate them through the update flow when they are ready. ### Can we tell customers why an offer does not apply? The evaluation APIs return applicable and inapplicable offers. Inapplicable coupons include reason and suggestion fields; applicable coupons include estimated discounts and savings messages. Use these responses to explain eligibility, then use the cart response for final amounts. ### What can we measure after a coupon launches? The coupon metrics API provides redemption counts and redemption values for a date range, with hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly aggregation. Admin endpoints also list the customers and orders associated with a coupon. ## Related - [Customers & Loyalty](https://www.commercengine.io/features/customers-and-loyalty.md): Segments and customer groups to target offers at. - [Marketing & Campaigns](https://www.commercengine.io/features/marketing-and-campaigns.md) - [Analytics](https://www.commercengine.io/features/analytics.md): Offer redemptions beside the rest of your numbers. ## Get started Bring the campaign you have in mind, and we'll shape the incentive, the rules and the checkout with you. - [Plan it with us](https://app.youform.com/forms/qqvhuspq) - [Start building free](https://app.commercengine.io/signup) on the Free plan - [Explore the promotion APIs](https://www.commercengine.io/docs/admin/api-reference/coupons-&-promotions/create-promotion)