Unleashing BOGO Magic on Shopify: A Step-By-Step Guide to Custom Discounts

Once upon a chilly Saturday morning, I found myself curled up on the couch with a steaming mug of coffee, wondering how on earth I could support Jerry, a friend and flourishing bootstrapped entrepreneur. Jerry's online store had been gathering more attention than a cat in a giraffe costume, and he was ecstatic. But he faced a dilemma which was about as fun as stepping on Lego: how could he make his "Buy One, Get One" (BOGO) promotion shine using Shopify’s functions? This was no ordinary BOGO—his was the mystical kind where one product gets discounted 100%, and another’s price morphs to its elusive "compare at" value.

The Quest for Custom Discount Creation

So, dear reader, it was on this fateful day that we embarked on an intriguing quest to make Jerry’s discount dreams come true. If you've ever flipped through Shopify’s functionalities, you know it’s a bit like navigating a high-tech spaceship with an instruction manual written in mystery ink. But, worry not! We’re about to decode the secrets—together.

Step One: Befriend Shopify’s Discount Feature

First stop, the trusty Discount section of the Shopify dashboard. It’s here that you’ll begin by setting up a standard discount. But wait, the magic happens when you step beyond the standard boundaries. Create a BOGO discount to tackle the immediate need for your main product to be free—remember, Jerry wanted one product discounted by 100%.

Here's a little tip: within Shopify, navigate to Discounts > Create Discount. From there, select the Buy X Get Y discount type and start customizing. Set your X (the product to buy) and Y (the product to get for free) cleverly. The world of settings here is your oyster.

Ah, but we’re far from done. The plot thickens.

Step Two: Let the Compare at Price Play its Role

Now comes the delightful twist—adjusting prices of the other product to reflect the "compare at price." The "compare at" price is a strange but wonderful creature, representing the “should-have-been” value, like dragon lore behind an ordinary-looking rock.

Enter the world of Shopify Scripts, that cunning feature allowing us to forge the code needed to automatically adjust item prices. We’ll need to write a Script that interacts with the cart—think of it like a helpful ferry that transports goods across the pricing river but charges a unique fare.

Here’s a rough sketch of the Script logic:

# Begin your Ruby script
Input.cart.line_items.each do |line_item|
  product = line_item.variant.product

  # Identifying our main and secondary products
  if product.id == YOUR_MAIN_PRODUCT_ID
    line_item.change_line_price(Money.zero, message: "100% Discount")
  elsif product.id == YOUR_SECONDARY_PRODUCT_ID
    compare_at_price = line_item.variant.compare_at_price
    line_item.change_line_price(compare_at_price, message: "Price adjusted to Compare At")
  end
end

Output.cart = Input.cart

This little script will pass over your cart lines with the grace of a ninja and will whisper sweet transformation spells over the prices.

Step Three: Test, Tweak, and Triumph

Before you sail into the horizon, fist pumping and high-fiving everyone in sight, it’s crucial to trial your setup. Invite a loyal friend, or ten, to your online store under the guise of a "special preview" and watch the magic unfold. Notice anything askew? Tinker and tweak—the flexibility of Scripts is on your side.

Our Little Band of Innovators

In the end, Jerry not only managed to wield Shopify’s powers to make the BOGO work, but the sales so increased, we had to hastily organize a celebratory brunch. We raised our smoothie glasses in triumph, knowing we’d taken the less-trodden path and emerged victorious.

So there you have it. Together, we turned the complex into the accomplished. And isn’t that the wondrous thrill of entrepreneurship? Each challenge—a mere stepping stone—leading us to create delightful shopping experiences. Remember, in this digital world, our adventures are only bounded by the limitations of our imagination. Feel free to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Happy shopifying!