How to create a coupon discount

  Before you start

If using barcodes to scan coupons at the POS, enter the coupon prefix in your store settings before getting started. 

How to

How do I create an in-store coupon for use at the POS?

Follow these steps

Coupons are used in retail across various industries and regions to encourage new business and drive traffic into a store.

To create an in-store coupon, follow these steps.

1. Select Product > Promotions > Coupons.
2. Select Actions > New Coupon.
   
3. Enter the coupon details and select Submit. A breakdown of the field definitions is provided below.
   

   Field	Definition
   Name	The name of the coupon.
   Active	Turns the coupon on or off. When inactive, the coupon remains in the Coupon Listing in the GT Backend, but is removed from the View Coupons at the POS.
   Type	Type of discount, can be dollar discount or percentage off.
   Valid until	The date the coupon expires. For example, if I enter March 24 in this field, the coupon is valid until March 23 at 11:00 PM.
   Amount	The dollar amount or percentage off of the coupon. Enter 5 for $5 or 5%.
   Only valid for categories	Use to restrict coupon to products in categories selected here. If not discounting by category, leave blank.
   Only valid for subcategories	Use to restrict coupon to products in subcategories selected here. If not discounting by subcategory, leave blank.
   Only valid for	Use to restrict coupon to products in this list. If not restricting to a specific product or products, leave blank.
   Minimum spend	The minimum purchase amount for the coupon to apply.
   Coupon barcode	A unique barcode to identify the coupon. Create a number or scan the barcode of your coupon and enter it here. Include the coupon prefix in this field. For example, if I entered the coupon prefix "C9" in my store settings, include C9 in the number entered here.
   Customer account only	Enable to restrict coupon use to purchases made under customer profiles only (dicount won't apply to walk-in customers).
   Allow manual use at POS	Enable to add the coupon to View Coupons at the POS to allow cashiers to manually apply the discount without requiring the physical coupon.

   
   In this example, when a customer buys Widget G, they'll get 50% off if the coupon is applied.
   
4. Redownload store data at the POS to sync the coupon to the POS immediately.

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Best Practices for barcoding in-store coupons

Use these tips to prevent conflicts between coupon barcodes and product barcodes. We recommend using an online barcode generator and printing a sheet of paper with scannable coupon barcodes to keep beside the POS for each promo period.

• Avoid using standard UPC codes as coupon barcodes, we've seen this create scanning issues.
• Pick a common coupon prefix for all coupon barcodes, for example 4000 or C9.
• Remember to enter the coupon prefix in your store settings. For detailed instructions, see the article How to enter a coupon prefix in store settings.
• Create a systematic way of generating barcodes for coupon use. This will prevent duplicate barcodes and make generation faster and easier. For example 40001, 40002, etc., or go by date, 400003092021 for March 9, 2021.
• If your barcode doesn't apply the discount when scanned, try opening the notepad app on your computer and scanning the barcode into the notepad. Verify the numbers scanned into the notepad match what is intended for the barcode.

More Information

For more information, see the article How to apply a coupon to a transaction at the POS and How to enable manual coupon activation at the POS.