What Are the Discount Interaction Policies?

For the latest version of Commerce Server 2007 Help, see the Microsoft Web site.

Discount interaction policies are rules that determine whether an item can receive multiple discounts or multiple awards. Commerce Server supports four different discount interaction policies:

• Condition items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts. Instructs Commerce Server that a condition item that is used to qualify for an offer can be reused to qualify for another offer.

• Condition items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts. Instructs Commerce Server that an item that is used to qualify for a discount can still be eligible to receive an offer.

• Award items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts. Instructs Commerce Server that an item upon which an award was given can still be used to qualify for other offers.

• Award items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts. Instructs Commerce Server that an item upon which an award was given is eligible to receive additional offers, for example, an item can receive multiple awards.

You can select the four discount interaction policies at the same time. Together they give you significantly more control over how discounts are applied. The effect of each policy is described in more detail in the following examples.

Example 1: Condition items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts

This interaction policy lets you use an item in the shopping basket to satisfy more than one condition.

In Discount 1 and Discount 2 of this example, the pants are part of the condition for both. Because the "Condition items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts" policy is set, the pants can qualify for both discounts.

Discount 1

Discount 2

The following table is an example of the user basket:

The first pair of pants is used to qualify for the 50 percent discount on the belt. The first pair of pants is also used with the second pair of pants to qualify for the 50 percent discount on the shirt. Therefore, the first pair of pants was used to qualify for both discounts. Because the discount limit in Discount 1 is 1, the second shirt does not receive the discount.

Example 2: Condition items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts

This interaction policy lets you to use an item in the shopping basket to qualify for an award and can then be reused to quality as an additional award.

In Discount 1 of this example, the pants are part of the condition. In Discount 2, the pants are part of the award. Because the "Condition items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts" policy is set on the first discount, the 50 percent off offer is applied to one of the two pair of pants in the basket.

Discount 1

Discount 2

The following table is an example of the user basket:

Example 3: Award items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts

This interaction policy lets an item in the shopping basket to which an award was given, also be used as a condition.

In Discount 1 of this example, the shirt is the award item. In Discount 2, the shirt is the condition. Because the "Award items of this discount can be reused as condition items for other discounts" policy is set for Discount 1, Discount 2 will be applied. If the policy were not set, Discount 2 would not be applied. By default, Commerce Server does not let an award item satisfy a condition.

Discount 1

Discount 2

The following is an example of the user basket:

Example 4: Award items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts

This interaction policy lets an item in the shopping basket receive multiple awards. This enables multiple discounts that can be used in conjunction on the same item.

In the following example, since the "Award items of this discount can be reused as award items for other discounts" policy is set in Discount 1 and Discount 2, the offers in Discount 1 and Discount 2 will both apply to the belt. This makes the total discount 50 percent off (25 percent + 25 percent). If the policy were not set, Discount 2 would not be applied because by default, Commerce Server does not let an award item be used to satisfy a condition. The interaction policy must be set on both Discount 1 and Discount 2 in order for both discounts to apply, even if both discounts have the same priority. If they have different priorities, only the lower priority discount (the one applied first) must have the interaction policy set.

If the discounts have the same priority, they are grouped into a 50% discount. If they have different priorities, they will be applied sequentially (which results in a 43.75% discount).

Discount 1

Discount 2

The following table is an example of the user basket:

See Also

Other Resources

What is a Discount?

Managing Discounts