What Are Discount Elements?
In Commerce Server Core Systems, discounts have four parts. Additionally, discounts can apply either to the entire order or to individual items in the order. The four parts of a discount are the following:
Requirement. Requirements are general conditions that must be true for the discount to apply. These are frequently target expressions that are evaluated based on the user profile and the context profile. An example of a requirement would be that the user be a preferred customer.
Condition. A condition that must be true for the discount to apply. Conditions are evaluated on individual items in the order form. A condition includes things such as a specific SKU, a product category, or a particular manufacturer.
Award. An award condition that must be true for the discount to apply. An award condition is evaluated for individual items in the order form. An award condition can be an expression that the discount applies to any item or to all items.
Offer. An offer that is applied if the requirement, condition, and award are met. An offer is what is ordinarily thought of as a discount—a percentage or monetary amount taken off the price of the product.
Discounts can be applied against an entire order — an order-level discount — or they can be applied against items in the order — an item-level discount. Other order-level discounts require custom programming.