Product based volume discounts, also known as quantity breaks, reward shoppers with a better price as they increase their basket size with specific products. Unlike order based volume discounts, which look at the entire order, product based discounts target individual products. This lets you push high-margin SKUs, move slow-moving inventory, or encourage stock-up behavior on consumables.
This article covers why to use product based volume discounts, how to configure them, the customer experience, and answers to common questions.
Here's how a tier structure can look in practice for a specific product, Daily Vitamins:
Buy 1 bottle, get 10% off
Buy 2 bottles, get 20% off
Buy 3 bottles, get 30% off
Experience on storefront:
Experience on customer portal:
Why use product based volume discounts?
Product based volume discounts give you a dedicated toolset to reward shoppers who buy more of a specific product, rather than more of anything in their order. You can create, configure, and display multiple discount profiles, each scoped to the products you choose.
Tying savings to the quantity of one product drives depth on that product without touching the rest of your shopper's order. This is useful for pushing high-margin SKUs, clearing slow-moving inventory, or encouraging stock-up behavior on consumables that one-time shoppers and subscribers naturally use more of over time.
When to use product based volume discounts?
Use product based discounts when you want customers to buy more of one product, not only more overall. For example, a health and nutrition subscription brand can offer 10% off when a subscriber buys 2 bottles of Daily Vitamins, and 20% off at 4 bottles, to move inventory on that specific product.
You can use this to reward stock-up behavior on consumables, so customers are incentivized to shop a larger supply in one go rather than reordering more frequently.
Multiple profiles and priority
You can create multiple product based discount profiles, and you can map a single product to more than one profile at the same time. Each profile has a configurable priority.
For any given product, only the highest-priority eligible profile is shown and applied. This holds across all touchpoints, including the offer drawer and the add product, edit product, and swap product flows.
Note: To protect your margins, only one discount type (product based or order based) can be live at a time. See Volume discounts overview for how the two types interact.
Discount types
Each tier supports three discount types.
Discount type | What it does | Example |
Percentage | Applies a percentage discount across the eligible items | 20% off |
Fixed amount | Takes a fixed amount off the order | $20 off |
Fixed amount per item | Takes a fixed amount off each eligible item | $20 off per eligible item |
How volume discounts stack with other discounts
The volume discount is applied on the gross order value. It applies on top of any subscription selling plan discounts, and before any other add-on discounts.
For example, a subscriber adds 2 bottles of daily vitamins at $20 each to their monthly plan. The 10% selling plan discount applies first, bringing each bottle to $18. The 20% volume discount for buying 2 bottles is then calculated on that reduced price, bringing each bottle to $14.40 ($28.80 for two), and any other discounts stack on top.
Configuring product based volume discounts
To create a volume discount, navigate to Loop admin > Grow > Volume discount > Product based and click on Create discount profile.
Follow these steps to set up a product based discount profile:
Create a product based volume discount profile.
Add the general details. Enter an internal name to identify the profile, and a display title that subscribers see on the portal, for example "Buy more, save more!".
Add conditions to target the discount to specific subscriptions.
Set the channels. Make the discount available on your storefront, your customer portal, or both.
In this step, you also map a widget style to the profile using the dropdown. See Customizing the widget to create and edit widget styles.
If you enable storefront as a channel, you also need to map the app block for the volume discount widget. See Setting up the storefront experience for details.
Select the purchase options. Choose whether the discount profile applies to one-time purchases only, subscriptions only, or both.
Set eligible products. Choose the products this volume discount applies to. Only the selected products qualify for this discount profile. If a product belongs to more than one product based volume discount profile, the profile displayed is selected based on priority and conditions.
Configure the tiers. Each product based discount profile can have multiple tiers.
You configure the following fields per tier:
Quantity: The exact quantity that triggers this tier.
Discount type: Can be percentage, fixed amount or fixed amount per item. Details on discount type can be found in the section above.
Discount amount: The value of the discount for this tier.
Restrict to a specific frequency: Turn this on if you want the tier to apply only to a specific delivery frequency, like 1 month. When this is on, keep the following in mind.
Eligibility: The profile is only available for contracts with a single product variant in the customer portal.
Frequencies shown: The frequency dropdown displays all common frequencies shared by the eligible products.
Product mapping: Products may map to different underlying selling plans, and we automatically select the highest-priority plan for each product.
Title: The customer-facing label for the specific tier, for example "Buy 3 get 15% off".
Offer tier description: Custom copy describing the tier in more detail, for example "3 bottles, $36.72 per bottle, 30% off". You can also use variables to add copy.
Badge text: Custom copy shown as a badge on the tier, for example "SUPERSAVER".
Discount pill: Custom copy shown as a banner on the tier, for example "20% off".
Discount code: A discount code that is applied when the tier is selected, for example "Buy3Get30".
Image: A supporting image to represent the tier.
Selected by default: One tier in every profile can be selected as default.
Set the 'Add to Cart Redirection'. If your profile is active on the storefront, you can customize where the Add to cart button redirects your customers.
Set the status to Active and create the profile. Change the status to Active, then click Create discount profile.
When you activate the profile, you choose how existing subscriptions are handled.
Select Apply this volume discount to eligible existing subscriptions now to run a bulk action that applies the discount immediately to all existing and eligible subscription contracts, or Apply on next subscriber action to show the discount to eligible subscribers and apply it only when they take an action on the customer portal.
Volume discounts are applied automatically on new subscriptions once the profile is active.
After creation, the profile appears in the list under the Discount Profiles tab with its type and status.
Customizing the widget
You can create and customize multiple widgets to control how quantity break offers look and where they're mapped. Navigate to Loop admin > Grow > Volume discounts, then open the Widgets tab.
Each widget card shows how many discount profiles are mapped to it, split between published and draft. Click the ⋯ menu on a widget to Edit, Duplicate, or Delete it.
Discount profiles mapped
Opening a widget shows which discount profiles are mapped to it. For each profile, you see its status (active or draft) and the channels it's mapped to, for example customer portal, storefront, or both.
Product card banner
Set the colors for the banner shown on the product card, including the text and icon color and the background color.
Product quantity break tiers
Customize the appearance of the quantity breaks card shown in the widget.
Corner radius and spacing: Adjust the card's corner radius and the spacing between tiers.
Colors: Set the text, background, and border colors. You can also set colors for the discount pill, and the badge, along with the badge style.
Typography: Set the font size for the display title, tier title, tier subtitle, discounted price, original price, pill text, and badge text.
Tier-related Preferences
Control which elements appear on the widget.
Show radio button: Displays a radio button for tier selection.
Show strikethrough price: Shows the original price struck through next to the discounted price.
Show price per item: When enabled, shows the price per item instead of the total discounted tier price. When disabled, shows the total value of the selected offer.
Display per unit price below the amount: Shows a per-unit price below the main amount, for example "$10/oz."
Show lines beside the title: Adds a line on either side of the discount title.
Subscription widget styling
The subscription widget will be visible along with the quantity tiers on the storefront for all products that have selling plans associated to them.
Customize the appearance of the subscription widget shown on the storefront along with the tiers.
Corner radius and spacing: Adjust the card's corner radius and the spacing between tiers.
Widget layout: Choose one of the 3 offered subscription widget layouts.
Frequency layout: Choose one of the 2 offered frequency widget layouts.
Configure the default purchase option selected, and the order of purchase options.
Colors: Set the text, background, and border colors. You can also set colors for the badge.
Typography: Set the font size (in em) for the title text, discounted price text, original price text, discount badge text, and frequency text.
Subscription widget-related Preferences & Texts
Use preferences to control which elements appear on the subscription widget and how it's configured.
You can also edit the subscription widget's text here.
Custom styling
Turn on Custom styling to add your own CSS and further customize the widget's appearance.
Setting up the Storefront experience
To use the volume discount widget on the storefront, it must be mapped to your published theme. We recommend creating a separate 'Products' page template for the products that you will be running product based discounts on. To do so:
Navigate to your store's Shopify admin > Online store. Click on 'Edit theme' on your published theme.
Open the page templates and click on 'Products'.
Click on 'Create template'.
Name the template, then click 'Create template'.
In the new template, hide or delete the Quantity selector, turn off Dynamic checkout buttons, and add the Loop volume discount app block. Save your changes.
Note: Do not add the Loop subscription widget app block alongside the Loop volume discount app block. The volume discount app block already includes a subscription widget, and adding both clutters the product page.
After creating this template, open each product you run a product based volume discount on, map it to the new template, and save your changes. You can also bulk-edit your products to map them to the template.
Your widget now appears on your storefront and displays the highest-priority product based volume discount profile (with storefront as a channel) for each product.
Adding a missing app block
If the app block is removed or hasn't been mapped, an informational banner appears:
When you configure a volume discount profile
On the Widgets page
To add the app block:
Click Manage on the banner. A modal opens showing your default theme and product template.
Optionally, choose a different product template or theme, as you would for the subscription widget.
Click Add app block, then add the app block to your Shopify theme using the steps in Setting up the storefront experience.
Once the app block is added, click Refresh.
Performance tracking
You can track how the volume discount drawer is performing from the analytics dashboard. Navigate to Loop admin > Analytics > Upsells, set the channel filter to Customer portal, and set the entity filter to Volume discount drawer.
Considerations
A. Storefront setup
The tier your customer picks sets the quantity added to cart. If the quantity selector is still visible on your product template, it does nothing, so hide it to avoid confusing your customers.
Turn off dynamic checkout buttons (the Buy now button) on the product template. Buy now checks out only one product, not the tier quantity your customer picked.
B. Channels and discounted orders
The channels you set on a profile decide which orders get the discount.
Channel setting | Checkout orders | Recurring orders |
Storefront only | Discounted | Not discounted |
Customer portal only | Not discounted | Discounted |
Storefront & customer portal | Discounted | Discounted |
C. Discount application and profile priority
Storefront
The storefront widget shows only the highest-priority eligible profile for each product. A lower-priority profile can still apply in cart, so what your customer sees on the widget and what they pay can differ depending on the discount profiles configured.
Scenario 1: High priority discount profile for storefront is applicable only on subscriptions
Your highest-priority storefront profile for daily vitamins covers subscriptions only, and no other profile covers one-time purchases. If your customer picks one-time purchase, they don't receive any discount.
Scenario 2: A lower-priority profile covers the one-time purchases
Your highest-priority storefront profile for daily vitamins covers subscriptions only, and a lower-priority storefront profile for the same product covers one-time purchases. If your customer picks one-time purchase, the widget doesn't show the one-time discount, but the lower-priority profile's discount still applies in cart.
The reverse also applies. If your highest-priority profile covers one-time purchases only and a lower-priority profile covers subscriptions, the subscription discount doesn't show on the widget but still applies in cart.
Scenario 3: A one-time-only profile on a product with selling plans
If a profile covers one-time purchases only and the product has selling plans, your customers get the tier discount on one-time purchases. They can also buy the tier quantities as a subscription, but at the selling plan price with no volume discount.
Customer portal
Customer portal shows the highest-priority profile for each purchase type. When your subscriber selects one-time purchase, customer portal shows the tiers from the highest-priority profile that covers one-time purchases. When they select subscription, it shows the tiers from the highest-priority profile that covers subscriptions.
Note: If a product, or any of its purchase types, has no applicable volume discount profile, your customers can still add the product using the quantity selector, without any volume discount.
D. Map all of a product's variants to the profile, not just some of them.
The volume discount's recommended template setup includes removing the quantity selector and doesn't include the Loop subscription widget, so the customer will only be able to make one-time purchases, and add one quantity at a time using the add to card button.
E. Cart behavior
If your customer adds the same product at the same frequency from more than one tier, the cart merges them into one line item. The discount for the highest tier that the combined quantity qualifies for applies. For example, adding the 2-bottle tier and then the 3-bottle tier gives one line of 5 bottles at 30% off, the 3-bottle tier's discount.
F. Fixed-price selling plans
If a product's selling plan uses a fixed price, subscriptions bill at whichever is lower: the selling plan price or the volume discount price.
G. Subscription widget and selling plans
Take care with tiers restricted to one frequency. If the only selling plan for that frequency is a bundle selling plan and you've turned on Hide bundle selling plans, your customers can't check out that tier as a subscription.
FAQs
Where do I find volume discounts in Loop admin?
Navigate to Loop admin > Grow > Volume discounts.
Can I show a profile on both the storefront and customer portal?
Yes, select both channels when you set up the profile. The discount then applies to checkout orders and recurring orders.
Can I run product based and order based volume discounts at the same time?
No, only one discount type can be live at a time to protect your margins, but you can create several product based profiles with different priorities to cover different products.
Can one product be part of more than one profile?
Yes, you can map a product to several profiles. Only the highest-priority eligible profile is shown and applied across all touchpoints.
Why isn't the volume discount widget showing on my product page?
Either the Loop volume discount app block is missing from your theme, or the product isn't mapped to the template that has it. When the app block is missing on your Shopify theme, a banner appears on the discount profile and Widgets pages. Click Manage, add the app block to your theme, then click Refresh. Also ensure that the widgets mapped to your profile are active.
Why doesn't the quantity selector change what's added to cart?
The tier your customer picks sets the quantity, so the quantity selector has no effect. Hide it on your product template.
Can my customers use the Buy now button with volume discounts?
No, Buy now checks out only one product, but your customers can add the tier to cart and check out from there. Turn off dynamic checkout buttons on your product template.
Will recurring orders get the discount if the profile is on the storefront only?
No, a storefront-only profile discounts the checkout order but not the recurring orders after it, but you can add customer portal as a channel so recurring orders are discounted too.
Can I add the Loop subscription widget app block alongside the volume discount app block?
No, the volume discount app block already includes the subscription widget, and adding both clutters the product page. Style the subscription widget from the Widgets tab instead.
Do existing subscribers get the discount when I activate a profile?
That depends on the option you pick when you activate it. Apply this volume discount to eligible existing subscriptions now runs a bulk action on all eligible contracts right away. Apply on next subscriber action applies it only when a subscriber takes an action in customer portal.
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Loop subscriptions team 🙂