This is an add-on module. You may email us at support@shopcada.com for more details.
Overview
Gift with Purchase adds a free item to the shopper’s bag automatically once their cart qualifies.
You can:
- Set the spend or quantity a cart must reach
- Require the cart to contain items from particular categories or collections
- Award one gift, or one for every multiple of the threshold
- Schedule the promotion to start and end on its own
- Run up to five rules at once, each with its own gift
- Choose the messages the shopper sees when the gift is added or removed
How It Works
You set up rules. Each rule says what a cart must contain, and which product is given free when it does.
- Shopcada checks the cart every time it changes.
- Rules are checked in order, from Rule 1 to Rule 5. The first rule that qualifies wins.
- Only one rule ever applies, even when the cart qualifies for more than one.
- The winning rule gives one gift, or one for every multiple of its threshold if you switch that on. See Awarding More Than One Gift.
- The gift is added to the bag on its own. The shopper does not choose it.
- If the cart stops qualifying, the gift is removed again automatically.
Because the first match wins, put your most generous rule in Rule 1 and work down. See Using More Than One Rule.
Opening the Settings
- Navigate to Dashboard > Marketing > Gift With Purchase.
The page shows five rules, Rule 1 to Rule 5. Set up as many as you need and leave the rest switched off. Click Save when you are done.
If your store also has the version where the shopper picks their own gift, this one is listed as Gift With Purchase (Auto).
Setting Up a Rule
Turning the Rule On
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Gift With Purchase | Tick to make the rule live. Untick to stop the promotion without losing the settings. |
| Schedule Start Date | When the promotion begins. Leave empty to start immediately. |
| Schedule End Date | When the promotion ends. Leave empty to never end. |
Min. Cart Amount / Cart Qty Requirement
This section sets the threshold the cart must reach.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Minimum Cart Amount | The cart value needed to qualify. |
| Minimum Cart Qty | The number of items needed to qualify. |
| Only products from following categories/collections will be included in calculation… | Limits which products count towards the threshold. Leave empty to count everything. |
| Products from following categories/collections will not be included… | Leaves the selected products out of the calculation. |
| Exclude Backorder from calculation of minimum cart amount | Leaves backordered items out of the threshold. |
| Award the gift once for every multiple of the threshold | Gives more than one gift when the cart passes the threshold several times over. Off by default. |
Use one threshold or the other, not both. Fill in either Minimum Cart Amount or Minimum Cart Qty. If you fill in both, saving fails with Please input only either minimum amount or minimum quantity to qualify for the free gift.
Gift certificates never count towards either threshold.
Required Products
This section asks a separate question: does the cart contain particular items at all? It is described in full under Requiring Items from a Category.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Cart must contain items from these categories/collections | The categories or collections the cart must include. Leave empty for no requirement. |
| Minimum Qty from Required Categories | How many units are needed from those categories. Counts units, so two of the same product count as two. |
The Gift and the Messages
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Free Product | The product given free. Start typing to search, then select it. Each rule needs its own product. |
| Add Message at Review Page | Shown when the gift is added. Defaults to “Your free item has been added to your bag.” |
| Remove Message at Review Page | Shown when the gift is taken away again. Defaults to “Your free item has been removed from your bag.” |
Set the gift product’s price to 0 so the shopper is not charged for it, and keep it in stock like any other product.
POS Settings
Stores with Shopcada POS also get:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Auto Add To Cart At POS Terminal | Applies the rule at your outlets as well as online. |
| Display a message to POS Terminal upon order completed | Shows your cashier a note once the sale is completed. |
| Message on POS Terminal | The wording of that note. |
A rule that uses Required Products, or that awards multiple gifts, cannot also auto-add at POS. See Important Notes.
How Minimum Cart Amount Is Calculated
Shopcada adds up the items that count towards the rule and compares the total with Minimum Cart Amount.
Each item counts at the price the shopper pays for it, times its quantity. A product on sale counts at its sale price.
The same total decides how many gifts a rule gives when Award the gift once for every multiple of the threshold is ticked.
What Counts Towards the Total
| Item in the cart | Counted? |
|---|---|
| Products | Yes, at the selling price times the quantity. |
| Products outside the include categories/collections | No, once you fill in that field. Leave it empty to count every product. |
| Products in the exclude categories/collections | No. A product in both lists is excluded. |
| Backordered items | No, when Exclude Backorder from calculation of minimum cart amount is ticked. |
| The rule’s Free Product, bought as a paid item | No. |
| Free gifts added by any rule | No. |
| Gift certificates bought in the cart | No. |
| Shipping and tax | No. |
What Checkout Takes Off
The cart page uses the total before any deduction. At checkout, Shopcada takes these off the total and checks the rule again:
| Deduction | Amount taken off |
|---|---|
| Discounts, including discount codes | Only the part of the discount on items that count. |
| Reward points | Only the part of the redemption on items that count. |
| Gift card, store credit, cashback and any other deduction | The full amount applied. |
A shopper can see the gift added on the cart page and removed at checkout.
This happens when a deduction brings the total below Minimum Cart Amount.
Example
The rule has a Minimum Cart Amount of $100 and excludes the Accessories category. The cart holds:
- A dress on sale at $90, down from $120.
- A tote bag at $20.
- Socks at $10, from Accessories.
- A $50 gift certificate.
On the cart page the total is $110: the dress at its sale price plus the tote bag. The gift is added.
At checkout the shopper applies a 10% discount code. It takes $9 off the dress, $2 off the tote bag and $1 off the socks. Shopcada deducts $11, the part on the dress and tote bag. The total drops to $99, so Shopcada removes the gift.
Stores that sell in more than one currency set a Minimum Cart Amount for each currency. Shopcada compares the total in the shopper’s currency with the amount for that currency.
Requiring Items from a Category
Required Products lets a rule insist that certain items are in the bag, on top of the spend or quantity threshold. Both conditions must be met before the gift is given.
This is the difference between the two category settings, and it is worth being clear about:
| Setting | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Only products from following categories/collections… (Min. Cart Amount section) | Which products count towards the $ or quantity threshold? |
| Cart must contain items from these categories/collections (Required Products section) | Which products must be in the bag, whatever the cart is worth? |
Example: spend $150 and buy at least 2 items from NEW IN
- Set Minimum Cart Amount to 150. Leave the include and exclude category fields empty, so the whole cart counts towards the $150.
- In Required Products, set Cart must contain items from these categories/collections to NEW IN.
- Set Minimum Qty from Required Categories to 2.
- Choose the Free Product and click Save.
A $500 cart containing one NEW IN item does not qualify. A $150 cart containing two NEW IN items does.
Example: buy any 2 items from NEW IN, any cart value
- Leave Minimum Cart Amount empty and set Minimum Cart Qty to 2.
- Set the include categories field to NEW IN, so only NEW IN items count towards that quantity.
You do not need the Required Products section for this one.
Awarding More Than One Gift
By default a qualifying cart receives one gift, however much the shopper spends. Tick Award the gift once for every multiple of the threshold to scale the gift quantity with the cart.
The setting sits in the Min. Cart Amount / Cart Qty Requirement section, below the backorder checkbox. It is off for every existing rule, so nothing changes until you turn it on.
| Rule | Cart | Gift given |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Cart Qty 1 | 3 qualifying items | 3 gifts |
| Minimum Cart Amount $150 | $300 of qualifying products | 2 gifts |
| Minimum Cart Amount $150 | $299.99 of qualifying products | 1 gift |
| Minimum Cart Qty 1, gift stock 2 | 5 qualifying items | 2 gifts, limited by stock |
Part-multiples never round up. A cart has to reach the next full multiple before the next gift is added.
Stock Limits the Quantity
The gift quantity can never exceed the stock you have of the gift product. If the shopper qualifies for five and you hold two, they get two. Where a shopper has also bought the same product as a paid item, that paid quantity is set aside first, so the gift never eats into stock already in their bag.
If you do not track inventory on the gift product, there is no cap.
The Quantity Follows the Cart
- Add more qualifying items and the gift quantity goes up.
- Remove some and it comes back down.
- The shopper cannot type a different quantity on the gift line. Removing the whole line still opts them out, as before.
If your storefront theme shows a quantity box on cart lines, make sure it is read-only on the gift line. Ask your Shopcada contact if you are unsure.
Amount Thresholds Need Exact Figures
With this option on, Minimum Cart Amount must be at least 0.01 and use no more than two decimal places. Saving fails with Please enter an amount of at least 0.01 with no more than 2 decimal places.
Using More Than One Rule
Use several rules to give a better gift for a bigger basket. Because the first qualifying rule wins, order them from the highest threshold down.
| Rule | Minimum Cart Amount | Free Product |
|---|---|---|
| Rule 1 | $300 | Weekend bag |
| Rule 2 | $200 | Cosmetic pouch |
| Rule 3 | $100 | Tote bag |
A $250 cart passes Rule 1 (too low), then qualifies on Rule 2 and receives the cosmetic pouch. Put the smallest threshold in Rule 1 and every cart would win the smallest gift, so the order matters.
Each rule needs a different Free Product. Saving fails with Free Product SKU should not be repeated. if two rules share one.
What the Shopper Sees
- The gift appears in the bag by itself as soon as the cart qualifies, along with your Add Message at Review Page.
- If they remove the items that made the cart qualify, the gift is removed too and your Remove Message at Review Page is shown. This happens on the cart page as well as at checkout.
- Where a rule awards more than one gift, the quantity on the gift line rises and falls as they change the cart.
- The gift cannot be used to qualify for itself, so removing a paid item always ends the promotion for that cart.
Important Notes
- Awarding multiple gifts does not work with POS auto-add. If you tick both, saving fails with Threshold multiples are not supported by POS. Disable POS for this rule. The POS terminal cannot work out the multiple yet. Support for it is being worked on separately.
- Required Products does not multiply. It stays a yes-or-no condition. A cart with six items from a required collection does not earn six gifts on that basis; the multiple is worked out from the Minimum Cart Amount or Minimum Cart Qty only.
- Required Products does not work with POS auto-add. If you tick both, saving fails with Required categories are not supported by POS. Disable POS for this rule. The POS terminal cannot check the condition, so it is safer to award nothing than to award the gift wrongly. The completed-order POS message is not affected and does respect the condition.
- Quantities count units, not different products. Two of the same item satisfy a required quantity of 2. There is no setting for “two different styles”.
- Free gifts never help a cart qualify. A gift added by one rule is left out of the calculation for every rule, including its own.
- Gift certificates are never counted towards the minimum cart amount or quantity.
- Exclude Backorder applies to the threshold only. A backordered item still counts towards Minimum Qty from Required Categories.
- Leaving Required Products empty changes nothing. Rules set up before this feature existed behave exactly as they always did.
Tips
Setting Up a Promotion
- Set the gift product’s price to 0 and keep stock on it. The gift is a real product and will run out.
- Use Schedule Start Date and Schedule End Date rather than remembering to switch the rule on and off.
- Test with a real cart before you announce the promotion. Add the qualifying items, check the gift appears, then remove one and check it disappears.
- Before switching on Award the gift once for every multiple of the threshold, check you hold enough stock of the gift. A generous multiple empties gift stock quickly.
Choosing the Right Setting
- To reward spending on particular products, use the include categories field in the threshold section.
- To reward spending anywhere while insisting on a particular product, use Required Products.
- To do both, set a Minimum Cart Amount with no include categories, and add your Required Products condition on top.
