WCS Tips: Promotions

Promotions

Promotions provide the ability to offer customers incentives to purchase. WCS supports number of promotion types.

Business users create and manage promotions with the Promotions tool in the Management Center.

Promotion groups

Promotions are grouped according to their type. There are three promotion groups by default:

Catalog-entry-level promotions
Order-level promotions
Shipping promotions

This table lists the promotion groups, and the promotion types that make up each group. Click the link in the second column to get a description of the promotion type.

To know more about how to create each promotion type, please visit the below infocenter link.
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSZLC2_7.0.0/com.ibm.commerce.management-center.doc/concepts/cprover.htm

Promotion groups serve the following two purposes:

All of the promotions within a group share a common group of promotion policies, that control how promotions are applied to items and orders.
Promotion groups are one factor that determines the order in which the promotion engine evaluates promotions during the shopping flow. Promotions are evaluated according to their promotion group in the following order (by default) :
1. Catalog-entry-level group
2. Order-level group
3. Shipping group

Below are the different types of promotions under each group

Catalog-entry-level promotions

Percentage off the subtotal of catalog entries
Amount off the subtotal of catalog entries
Percentage off individual catalog entries
Amount off individual catalog entries
Buy catalog entry X, get catalog entry Y free
Buy catalog entry X, get additional X at a percentage off
Buy catalog entry X, get a percentage off catalog entry Y
Percentage off the subtotal of catalog entries from a category
Amount off the subtotal of catalog entries from a category
Fixed price on the subtotal of catalog entries from a category
Fixed price on individual catalog entries from a cateogry
Fixed price on the subtotal of catalog entries
Fixed price on individual catalog entries
Percentage off individual catalog entries from a category
Amount off individual catalog entries from a category
Buy catalog entries from category X, get catalog entry Y free
Buy catalog entries from category X, get additional catalog entries from category X at a percentage off
Buy catalog entries from category X, get a percentage off catalog entry Y
Buy A ( and B and C), get a percentage off Y
Buy A ( and B and C), get an amount off Y
Buy A and B, get a percentage off both

Order-level promotions

Percentage off an order
Amount off an order
Free gift with an order

Shipping promotions

Fixed price for shipping an order
Amount off shipping on an order
Buy catalog entry X, get shipping at a fixed price
Buy catalog entries from category X, get shipping at a fixed price

Combination with other promotions

Each promotion has an exclusivity setting, called Combination with other promotions. This setting governs how the promotion can be evaluated compared to other promotions.

There are 4 options for doing the same as follows:

Combine with other promotions
Combine with other promotions stackable
Exclusive within the same group
Exclusive within an order

Combine with other promotions
This promotion can be combined with all other promotions in an order; however, the following promotion policies apply:

For catalog-entry promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, no other catalog-entry promotions can be applied to the item.
For shipping promotions: If this promotion is applied to an item, no other shipping promotions can be applied to the item.
For order promotions: If this promotion is applied to the order, no other order promotions can be applied to the order.

Combine with other promotions stackable
This promotion can be combined with all other promotions in an order. In addition, this promotion can be stacked on top of other promotions in the same group, which overrides certain promotion policies. Specifically:

For catalog entry promotions: If a catalog-entry promotion is already applied to an item, then this type of promotion is applied on top of the existing promotion.
For shipping promotions: If a shipping promotion is already applied to an item, then this type of promotion is applied on top of the existing promotion.
For order promotions: If an order promotion is already applied to the order, then this type of promotion is applied on the top of the existing promotion.

The priority of promotions determines whether a stackable promotion applies to an order. If an order qualifies for multiple promotions in the same group, the promotion with the highest priority is applied first. If subsequent promotions are stackable, then those promotions are applied in order of priority.

Exclusive within the same group
If a promotion with this setting is applied, no other promotions from the same promotion group can be applied to the order. For example, if this promotion is a catalog-entry promotion, no other catalog-entry promotions can be applied to the order.

Exclusive within an order
If a promotion with this setting is applied, no other promotions can be applied to the order.

PX_PROMOTION.EXCLSVE = 0: This promotion may be combined with any other promotions
PX_PROMOTION.EXCLSVE = 1: This promotion can not be combined with any other promotions in the same promotion group
PX_PROMOTION.EXCLSVE = 2: This promotion can not be combined with any other promotions
PX_PROMOTION.EXCLSVE = 3: This promotion can not be combined with any promotion in the product level promotion group
PX_PROMOTION.EXCLSVE = 4: This promotion can be stacked on top of other promotions in the same promotion group

Promotion priority

When a single order qualifies for multiple promotions from the same promotion group, the promotion with the highest priority is applied first. In cases where multiple promotions are permitted, the promotions are applied in order from highest to lowest priority. To assign a priority value, we can choose a number from 0 (lowest priority) to 1000 (highest priority).

Promotion states

There are several promotion states:

Inactive: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 0
New promotions are inactive by default when created. Inactive promotions are not available on the storefront.

Active: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 1
Active promotions are available on the storefront.
Any submitted orders are evaluated against promotions that are active at the time the order was submitted. If a promotion is deactivated after the customer adds qualifying SKUs to a cart, but before the order is submitted, the promotion does not apply.

Marked for deletion: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 2

Suspended: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 3
When the total maximum redemptions are reached for a promotion, the promotion state changes to be suspended. For example, if you create a promotion with a redemption limit of 1000, the next customer who qualifies for this promotion does not receive it. The promotion state changes to Suspended. Promotions in Suspended state can be deactivated. The Suspended state displays on the Promotions - List when one or more promotions are in this state.

Obsolete: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 2

Activating: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 5
When you activate a promotion that imports codes from a CSV file or generates codes, the promotion is set to the Activating state while the codes populate. The promotion refreshes every 5 seconds, providing updated information about the status of the promotion and its code population. After promotion codes are successfully populated, you cannot repopulate promotion codes for the same promotion. Reactivating a promotion does not generate new codes.

Archive: PX_PROMOTION.STATUS = 6
When you archive an inactive promotion, the promotion is automatically removed from the main Promotions - List view and from any promotion folder that the promotion was included within. To find an archived promotion, business users can use the new advanced search for promotions. By archiving promotions, you can control which inactive promotions display in the main promotions list or in folders. For more information, see Archiving promotions.

When we change or recalculate an order, WCS reevaluates the order against promotions that are currently active. As a result, a promotion that applies to the order might be removed from the revised order if, for example, that promotion expires or deactivates. If you want the customer to receive the original promotion, you must manually adjust the order.

Redemption limits

We can impose limits on the applicability of the promotions, called redemption limits, in three different ways:

Maximum redemptions for this promotion
Maximum redemptions on a single order
Maximum redemptions by a single customer

Maximum redemptions for this promotion: PX_PROMOTION.TOTALLMT
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used in total, by all customers. When the maximum redemption limit is reached, the promotion status changes to Suspended the next time the promotion is evaluated.
PX_PROMOTION.TOTALLMT = -1, it is the default value and it imposes no limit.

Maximum redemptions on a single order: PX_PROMOTION.PERORDLMT
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used in a single order. This option has no effect on order level or shipping promotions.
PX_PROMOTION.PERORDLMT = -1, it is the default value and it imposes no limit.

Maximum redemptions by a single customer: PX_PROMOTION.PERSHOPPERLMT
This option limits the number of times that a promotion can be used by a single customer.
PX_PROMOTION.PERSHOPPERLMT = -1, it is the default value and it imposes no limit.

For order- and shipping-level promotions with a maximum redemption of one by a single customer, the promotion applies to the first order placed by the customer. Subsequent orders by the same customer do not qualify for the promotion.