How to Set Up Cart and Cheapest Item Discounts

Two rule types work on the basket as a whole rather than on particular products: Cart, which adds a cart discount once the basket reaches a threshold you set — spend $100, save $10 — and Least amount product discount, which gives a cheapest item discount on the lowest-priced product in the basket. Both are ways to raise average order value without marking down your catalog.

The fields every rule shares are described in Discount Rule Fields.

Cart

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Adds a discount line to the basket when it meets a condition — spend $200, save $20. Nothing on your shop pages changes: the discount is a line in the cart totals, not a new price on the product, which is what makes it a spend threshold rather than a sale.

• Discount based on – Percentage discount takes a percentage of the basket; Fixed discount takes that amount off the basket once; Flat discount takes that amount off for each item in the basket.
• Discount Label (shown at cart & checkout) – the wording next to the discount line. Leave blank to use the default, Cart offer Discount.
• Conditions – Cart Total Quantity or Cart Total Value, with a Minimum and a Maximum. This is what turns the rule into a threshold.

To set one up:

1. Go to: WooCommerce > PricePulse > Dynamic Rules and choose +Add New Rule.
2. Rule type: choose Cart.
3. Discount based on: choose Fixed discount and enter 20 in How much.
4. Discount Label: type the name shoppers should see, such as Spring Sale Discount.
5. Conditions: choose Cart Total Value and set Minimum to 200.
6. Publish your rule.

Example. With that rule live, a basket holding one $100 Premium Hoodie shows no discount at all — it has not reached $200. Add a second and the subtotal reaches $200.00, a line reading Spring Sale Discount −$20.00 appears, and with $10 delivery the total is $190.00. The product lines stay at $100.00 throughout; only the totals change.

Percentage instead. A Percentage discount of 10 gives the same −$20.00 on a $200 basket, but grows with the order: $300 saves $30. Adding a Maximum Discount of 5 cuts the line to −$5.00 however large the basket gets.

What the shopper sees. Shop and product pages are untouched — a cart rule never changes a shelf price. In the cart and at checkout the discount is its own line, named by your Discount Label. If you enable the offer message it appears above the cart table, which is a good place to say how much more is needed to qualify.

Cheapest Item Discount (Least Amount Product)

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Reduces the cheapest item in the basket by a percentage you choose — the classic “three for two”, where the cheapest of the three is free. The plugin works out which item is cheapest every time the basket changes, so the discount follows the basket rather than a product you nominate.

• Discount for (Product/ Category) – Any product considers the whole basket; Category narrows it to one category, so the cheapest qualifying item is found only among those products.
• Select category – shown when you choose Category.
• Discount on the cheapest item – 100% for Free (%) – the percentage taken off that item. Required. Enter 100 to give it away.
• Minimum product purchase to apply rule – how many items must be in the basket before the offer starts. For a three-for-two, enter 3.
• Minimum amount spent (subtotal amount) – a spend threshold instead of, or as well as, a quantity one.
• Minimum order done by customer – restricts the offer to customers who have already placed at least this many orders.
• Offer Notice – a short line shown with the offer.

Example. A rule taking 20% off the cheapest item, with a $100 Premium Hoodie, a $30 Wool Beanie and a $20 Baseball Cap in the basket, reduces the cap — the cheapest — to $16.00 and leaves the other two alone. Remove the cap and the discount moves to the beanie, which becomes $24.00, with nothing edited in your admin. Set Minimum amount spent to 500 and none of them is discounted, because the basket never reaches the threshold.

For a true three-for-two, set the percentage to 100 and Minimum product purchase to apply rule to 3. Three items in the basket, and the cheapest costs nothing.

What the shopper sees. One line in the cart with its price struck through and reduced, the others unchanged, and the same figures at checkout. Because the target is recalculated on every basket change, adding a cheaper item moves the discount onto it.

Which One to Reach For

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Use Cart when the offer is about how much someone spends and you want the saving stated as a single figure in the totals. Use the cheapest item discount (Least amount product discount in the rule type menu) when the offer is about how many items they buy and you want the saving attached to a product line. A cart rule is easier to explain in a banner; a cheapest-item rule is more persuasive in the basket, because the shopper can see which item became free.