There are dozens ways to run promotion and discount campaigns for commerce and marketplaces. In this article, we will go through the type of promotion and discounts you can run, promotion and discount softwares and additionally Headless API first
We will go through
- Type of Promotions you can offer in Ecommerce, Examples
- Promotion and Discount Softwares
- Headless Promotion and Discount engines
Types of Promotion / Discounts
| Fields | Platform owner user story | End user user story | ||
| Percentage Discount condition 10%, 20% | – Name, – Schedule – Value – Maximum redemption limit (one time per day or one time per week, # of time all time) Other conditions – Minimum order value, – Maximum order value, – Minimum quantity, – maximum quantity – Discount value cannot exceed limit – First time purchase or repeat purchase – whether for the same product discount can be applied multiple times(on multiple purchases) UX Level – Show percentage of deal claimed i.e. the quantity remaining on which offer is applied. – On the frontend a bar of remaining % will appear – Discount offer clubbing allowed or not – Allow platform owner to select whether current discount can be avail with any other discount – Attach offer with payment gateway eg- 10% discount with Paypal – Minimum cart value to avail offer – Maximum discount that can be availed – Attach offer with a Discount code i.e. Select whether user need to enter coupon or the offer will be directly applied to the product | allow platform owners to add discount percentage | End user able to apply discount on checkout page End user able to view the details of a discount code when they click ‘i’ Show helping text along on the product page “offer expiring in xyz hrs” or “Limited time deal” -both statement have different impact on user mindset | |
| Fixed price Discount 200 off 1000 | **all fields from above | Allow platform owners to set a fixed Price off | ||
| Get X Free product | – **all fields from above – Offer clubbing allowed or not(whether we can use other offers with this) | Provide a product free on the shopping of other Eg: Free product selection – Allow platform owner to select the free product Eg: Get oneplus bullet earphone on shopping of oneplus nord | ||
| Free Shipping Discount | – **All fields from above – Select locations from which free shipping in possible | |||
| Buy One Product ,Get other at X% Discount | – **all fields from above – Select other product that will be at discount – Select the category – in this user will get discount for any item in the category | |||
| Bundle offers – Sell clubbed products at lesser price than their arithmetic sum | Allow platform owners to select the items in a bundle |
Headless API - Promotion and Discount Engines
If you want to have a best of category solution instead of a simple promotion engines, you can find the below players. And you can integrate their API with your solution. The only downside is the cost trade off with something which is already the best / developed / ready to used.
Tradly's Built-In Promotion and Discount Features
You do not need to build a promotion system from scratch to run everyday campaigns on a Tradly-powered store or marketplace. Tradly includes promotion management and coupon tools in SuperAdmin, with options for both web and app experiences. Platform owners can configure campaigns themselves, while headless projects can connect through the Tradly API.
Promote listings with scheduled banners
Create promotional banners or videos that send shoppers to a listing, an account, an external link, or an informational message. Choose the placement and channel, set the campaign’s start and end dates, and activate or pause it from SuperAdmin. You can prepare artwork for web and mobile placements, then use banners to feature products, seasonal offers, or marketplace announcements. See the promotion setup guide for placement and destination options.
Offer percentage, fixed-amount, and free-shipping coupons
Create coupon codes for direct discounts or free shipping. Direct discounts can use a percentage or fixed amount. Configure a code and customer-facing note, set its active dates, and add limits such as a minimum order amount, maximum eligible amount, maximum discount, total redemption limit, and per-customer limit. Coupons can also be restricted to new users. Shoppers enter the code at checkout to redeem an eligible offer.
These built-in controls cover common acquisition and retention campaigns, from a first-order offer to a limited-use seasonal code. Read the coupon guide for the available fields and setup steps. More specialized mechanics—such as buy-one-get-one offers, bundles, or combining multiple discounts—may require additional business rules in your storefront or checkout.