How To Set Up Quantity-based Discount Rules In WooCommerce?

Looking to increase average order value and move inventory faster? Quantity-based discounts might be exactly what your WooCommerce store needs. These types of deals encourage customers to buy more by offering better prices as the quantity goes up — a proven tactic to boost sales and customer satisfaction.

By default, WooCommerce doesn’t allow you to set up advanced discount rules like “Buy 3, get 20% off” or “Buy 5, save $50.” That’s where plugins like Smart Coupons for WooCommerce come into play.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about setting up quantity-based discounts using the Smart Coupons plugin. From real-life use cases to step-by-step instructions, you’ll learn how to create targeted discount rules that drive higher order volumes and improve your bottom line.

Quantity-based discounts are pricing strategies where customers get a better deal when they purchase more units of a product. The larger the quantity in the cart, the greater the discount, which makes it a win-win for both the store owner and the buyer.

In WooCommerce, this type of discount isn’t supported out of the box, but with the right plugin, you can easily set up deals like bulk discounts, tiered pricing, or BOGO offers.

Let’s say you run an online stationery store. You could offer a 15% discount when someone buys 10 or more packs of paper. This not only boosts your sales volume but also gives customers more value, encouraging repeat purchases.

Quantity-based discounts are also great for:

• Moving seasonal or excess inventory
• Encouraging upsells
• Attracting wholesale buyers

You cannot set up quantity-based discount rules using the standard WooCommerce coupon features. To create advanced WooCommerce coupons, including quantity discounts, you need a third-party plugin like Smart Coupons for WooCommerce.

Prerequisites: Install and activate the WooCommerce coupon plugin from the WordPress repository.

Here are some real-life use cases where quantity-based discount rules become most effective:

Use Case 1: Offering Storewide Discounts Based on Quantity

Quantity discounts encourage customers to purchase more than they initially intended by offering a great deal across your store. This strategy often leads to increased sales as customers are enticed to buy more for the discount.

Follow the steps below to easily create a quantity-based discount for your entire product category. For example, Buy 5 matching items and get $50 off.

Step 1: Creating WoCommerce Coupons

• Go to Marketing > Coupons from your dashboard.
• From the Coupons window, click on the Add Coupon button.
• Enter a suitable Coupon code and Description for your coupon.
• From the General panel, you can select your preferred discount type as a Fixed cart discount and enter the coupon amount as 50.

Step 2: Set Up The Quantity Of The Matching Products

• To set the number of matching products, navigate to the Usage restriction panel and set the Minimum quantity of matching products as shown below.
• Publish the coupon to activate it.

Here is what the cart looks like after redeeming the coupon.

Use Case 2: Setting Quantity-based Discount Rules for Specific Product Categories

Set quantity-based discount rules for specific product categories in WooCommerce to encourage bulk purchases. This is beneficial when especially you are trying to clear out stock or need to fasten up slow-moving stock. Let’s look at how to configure using an example – Buy 3 items and get 35% off on seasonal products

Step 1: Add A New Coupon And Configure General Settings

• From your WooCommerce dashboard navigate to Coupons and do the following coupon settings. You can also make coupons available on the cart page.

Step 2: Set Up The Seasonal Product Category

• Navigate to the Usage restriction panel to select Product categories that you want to offer quantity discounts.
• Select Category condition as Any from below selection. The coupon will be applied only if any of the categories selected are available in the cart.

Step 3: Set Up The Quantity Of The Matching Products

• Set the number of matching products from the Usage restriction panel and set the Minimum quantity of matching products as shown below.
• Publish the coupon to activate it.

Now you have successfully created quantity-based discount coupons for your seasonal products. See how customers can redeem this coupon from the cart.

Use Case 3: Provide Quantity-based Discounts for Selected Customer Roles

Sometimes you want to give offers only to your long-term subscribers as a token of gratitude. To do this you have to set up WooCommerce quantity-based pricing for specific user roles only. We will take you through step-by-step process to achieve this goal with an example – Buy 2 items and get one item for free.

Step 1: Add A New Coupon And Configure General Settings

• From your WooCommerce dashboard, navigate to Coupons and configure the following coupon settings.
• Leave the Coupon amount field as zero if you don’t want to offer an extra discount because you are already giving a free product.

Step 2: Set Up The Quantity of Matching Products

• Navigate to the Usage restriction panel and set the Minimum quantity of matching products as 3.

Step 3: Configure Applicable Customer Roles

• From the Checkout option panel, you can choose the customer role(s). Choose Subscribers for the above mentioned quantity discount example.

Step 4: Select A Free Giveaway Product

• Navigate to the Giveaway products panel, where you can select the free giveaway as illustrated below.

Now publish your coupon, and all your subscribers can avail of the discount using the coupon code.

Quantity discounts in WooCommerce aren’t just a tactic; it’s one of the most crucial strategies to boost sales in your store because of several key advantages:

• Customers may initially want a single product, but may be influenced to purchase the products in bulk due to available discounts, which will eventually bring in bigger orders.
• Quantity discounts motivate to buy more thereby more sales and higher average order value.
• Attract wholesale buyers who often make bulk purchases for their retail businesses.
• Clears older and slow-moving stocks.

Offering WooCommerce quantity discounts is a great option when you need to lower your on-hand inventory by offering all types of sales, clearance sales, or holiday promotions.

To learn more about the Smart Coupon plugin features and advanced settings, check out this article on WooCommerce Smart coupon extension. The plugin also has an advanced WooCommerce coupon version. The pro version offers a lot more features, customizations and functionalities than the free plugin.

Hope this article was of interest to you. Do let us know your thoughts about the quantity-based discount rules in WooCommerce in the comments below.