Discounts
The Promotional Engine for Modern Retail
Break free from checkout limitations. Loyal Guru's Discounts module gives commercial and marketing teams one place to design, launch, test, and measure every price promotion — from mass leaflet offers to club prices, targeted vouchers, and complex bundles.
- Build any retail promotion with a visual configuration flow: product discounts, cart thresholds, club prices, bundles, BOGO, payment incentives, and coupon/voucher offers.
- Apply promotions in real time across POS, e-commerce, app, and any connected checkout without creating a custom integration for every campaign.
- Control margin and budget with stackability, category priority, per-customer caps, campaign budgets, and per-transaction limits.
- Personalize without separate tools by using the same engine for mass campaigns, loyalty-member campaigns, and targeted customer offers.
Direct Discounts
Create automatic price reductions for products, categories, carts, stores, payment methods, or customer groups.
Club Prices
Offer exclusive member prices and loyalty-only promotions without duplicating POS logic.
Coupons & Vouchers
Gate access with shared coupon codes or unique per-customer vouchers for targeted campaigns.
Bundles & BOGO
Combine victory and application conditions to build 2x1, NxM, cross-category bundles, and combo prices.
Stackability
Decide which promotions stack, which compete, and which category wins first when several campaigns qualify.
Budget Control
Protect margin with real-time caps, soft campaign limits, customer frequency controls, and per-transaction ceilings.
Use Cases
| Use Case |
|---|
| → Weekly promotional leaflet: members see exclusive discounted prices in-store, applied automatically without any code. |
| → Double-price mechanic: loyalty club members see the member price online while non-members see the standard price. |
| → Segmented coupon: customers inactive for 90+ days receive a unique 20% off voucher for their next purchase. |
| → Buy 2 get 1 free on a specific brand: triggered automatically at POS when the qualifying items are scanned. |
| → Cart threshold: spend over 100 EUR and receive 15 EUR off the total, automatically applied at checkout. |
| → Bundle pricing: add Product A and Product B to the same cart and get the combo for a fixed price of 35 EUR. |
| → Category booster: 30% off all organic products every Tuesday for loyalty members. |
| → Free shipping: automatically granted on orders above 50 EUR, stackable with other promotions. |
| → New store opening: exclusive 15% off for customers who shop at the new location in the first two weeks. |
| → Payment incentive: extra 5% discount for customers paying with the co-branded credit card. |
Promotion mechanics examples
Discount effects are the building blocks behind each promotion. Operators choose the mechanic that best matches the commercial goal, then combine it with conditions, audiences, limits, and stackability.
| Effect mechanic | Best for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage off | Clear perceived value on products, categories, or member prices | 30% off all organic products for loyalty members every Tuesday |
| Direct value | Fixed savings on a cart or a product scope | €10 off when the cart reaches €80, or €2 off a selected brand |
| BOGO / NxM | Volume-driving offers on FMCG and repeat-buy categories | Buy 2, get 1 free on Coca-Cola |
| Tiered quantity | Progressive incentives for buying more units | Second unit at 50% off, or 3 for the price of 2 |
| Combo price | Cross-category bundles with a fixed final price | Coffee + cereal for €5.99 |
| Strikethrough price | Club-price communication and visible price comparison | Loyalty members see Product A at €1.99 instead of €2.49 |
For the full mechanic catalogue, see Discount Types.
Discount vs Coupon — key distinction
In Loyal Guru, the Discount is the commercial offer. A Coupon or Voucher is only needed when access to that offer must be controlled by a code.
| Entity | What it is | Who it targets |
|---|---|---|
| Discount | The offer itself — type, value, conditions, effect | All customers, loyalty members, or a specific audience |
| Coupon | A shared code that gates access to a discount | Any eligible customer who presents the code |
| Voucher | A unique per-customer code linked to a coupon | A single identified customer |
When is a Coupon required?
The need for a code depends on who should receive the offer:
| Discount target | Coupon required? | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| All customers (mass) | No | Discount applies automatically to every qualifying cart |
| Loyalty members (club) | No | Discount applies automatically to enrolled members' carts |
| Targeted (specific audience) | Yes | A Coupon (shared code) or Voucher (per-customer code) is mandatory — it is the mechanism that restricts the offer to that specific group |
Why targeted discounts require a coupon
Mass and club discounts can be automatic because every eligible cart can be evaluated at checkout. Targeted discounts need a code because the offer belongs to a specific customer or audience delivery.
Engine Versions
| Engine | What the Coupon is | Audience options | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| LE 2025 (current) | Optional code that gates a Discount | Mass, club (loyalty members), or targeted | Discounts |
| Legacy (coupon server) | The promotional entity itself — offer + code combined | Targeted only (coupon-to-customer delivery) | Discounts — Legacy |
Legacy: no mass or club discounts
In the legacy integration, the Coupon IS the offer. There is no standalone Discount entity, and there is no way to create mass or club-wide promotions without sending a coupon to each customer individually. Companies that need automatic discounts for all customers or loyalty members must use the current engine.
How It Works
- A Discount is defined as a standalone entity with a type, value, scope, and optional conditions.
- Optionally, a Coupon (shared code) or Voucher (per-customer code) is attached as the redemption mechanism.
- The discount is assigned to a Targeted Delivery campaign or set as always-on for automatic application.
- At checkout, Loyal Guru evaluates active discounts against the cart. Qualifying discounts are applied — automatically or upon code presentation.
- Stackability and priority rules determine how multiple simultaneous discounts interact.
Configuration
Go to Loyalty and Promotional engine → Discounts → New Discount in the Owner App. Operators define:
- Who qualifies — all customers, loyalty members, or a targeted audience.
- What must happen — cart, product, store, payment, or customer conditions.
- What benefit applies — percentage off, direct value, bundle, combo price, or another discount type.
- How campaigns combine — category priority, stackability, and limits.
For the full step-by-step guide, see Create a Discount Campaign.
From offer definition to personalized delivery
A Discount defines the offer: what benefit the customer receives, which cart or product conditions must be met, and who can qualify. For mass and club promotions, that definition is enough — Loyal Guru can evaluate every eligible cart automatically at checkout.
For personalized discounts, the offer also needs a delivery layer. Targeted Delivery connects the Discount to a specific audience, generates the customer-level Voucher, and makes the offer available only to the intended customers.
The Voucher is the Customer ↔ Discount relationship
A Voucher is the unique link between a Discount and a customer. It tells the engine that this specific customer is allowed to redeem this targeted offer.
For mass and club discounts (no delivery step needed), see Discount vs Coupon above.
For audience delivery, see Targeted Delivery.
API integration
At checkout, Loyal Guru can either calculate the final discount itself or return the promotion decision so the client system applies the price change. The commercial behavior is the same: Loyal Guru is the source of truth for eligibility, rules, coupons, vouchers, stackability, and limits.
LG as promo engine (apply_discounts: true)
Loyal Guru evaluates the cart and returns the adjusted values. The POS or e-commerce checkout applies the response directly.
Client as promo engine (apply_discounts: false)
Loyal Guru evaluates eligibility and returns which promotions apply. The POS or e-commerce checkout performs the final price calculation.
Per-transaction override
Use apply_discounts on cart requests to control the mode for a specific transaction. To preview results before payment, use Simulate and Apply Discounts. For the combined real-time checkout flow across discounts, points, and cashback, see Promo Engine.
Documentation
| Page | Topics |
|---|---|
| Create a Discount Campaign | Campaign sections, effect types, supported retail mechanics |
| Simulate and Apply Discounts | Preview discounts with POST /carts/simulate and apply them with POST /carts/realtime |
| Integrations — Reading from GET | Hub + GET response, Conditions, Application, Effects (bundle: anchor) |
| Stackability | Categories, stackable vs highest discount, evaluation order |
| Limits | Win frequency limits, budget, per-transaction cap |
| Campaigns API | Create and update discount campaigns via Streaming API |