A Progressive Discount gives shoppers bigger rewards as their cart grows, one step at a time. When a cart unlocks more than one step, you decide how those steps add up. This guide shows you how to pick that in How unlocked steps are calculated, plus a few other settings you can fine-tune.
Before you start
Discount Plus installed on your Shopify store
Step 1: Open or create your Progressive Discount
In Shopify admin, open Apps → Discount Plus.
Under Discount Types, select Create on Product Discounts.
In the Create Product Discounts dialog, select Create next to Progressive Discount.
Already have one? Open it from your Discounts list instead.
Scroll to Step 4: Progressive Steps Configuration.
Step 2: Add your steps
Each step card has a few fields:
Unlocks at (min amount): the amount that unlocks this step.
Applies to: what the step discounts (for example Order subtotal or Products).
Discount: pick the type, then fill in Amount or Percent.
How many products: for product steps, how many items get the discount. Other products stay full price.
Maximum: an optional cap on the step.
Click Add another step for each new step, or Remove to delete one.
Good to know: each product step discounts a set number of items, not the whole cart. The default is 1. Amounts are automatically converted to the customer's currency when the discount runs in different markets.
Step 3: Choose how unlocked steps are calculated
Open How unlocked steps are calculated and pick one:
Apply steps in order: steps apply from the smallest unlock amount up, and each one is calculated on what's left after the earlier steps. Example: $500 off comes first, then 50% off what remains.
Each step uses the original price: every step is calculated on the original price, no matter what the other steps did. Example: with the same $500 off and 50% off steps, the 50% is worked out on the original price instead of the reduced one.
Step 4 (optional): Fine-tune your steps
Three more dropdowns in the same section let you shape how steps work:
Quantity counting mode: Count all products together or Count per product individually.
Progression metric: what unlocks each step. Pick Eligible product quantity, Cart subtotal, Eligible subtotal, or Eligible line count.
Unit allocation (product steps): which items get each product step's discount. Pick Lowest price first, Highest price first, or Cart order.
Step 5: Check the summary, save, and test
Read the How this applies in the cart summary under your steps. It spells out your setup in plain words.
Save the discount.
Add products to a test cart and make sure each step unlocks and applies the way the summary says.
Tips
Pick Apply steps in order when you want rewards to stack on top of each other.
Pick Each step uses the original price when you want every step on the same footing.
Use Maximum to cap a step so a big cart doesn't get more than you planned.
Troubleshooting
Only one product got the discount: each product step discounts a set number of items, and the default is 1. Raise How many products on that step.
The wrong items got discounted: check Unit allocation (product steps). It decides whether the lowest priced, highest priced, or first items in the cart get the discount.
A step unlocks earlier or later than expected: check Progression metric and each step's Unlocks at (min amount (usd)).
The total isn't what you expected with more than one step: check How unlocked steps are calculated, then compare with the How this applies in the cart summary.
Need help? Message us from the app (click Contact us under Discount Types) and tell us which Progressive Discount you're setting up.
Ready to try it? Install Discount Plus from the Shopify App Store.