Understanding Promotion Types
AccuArk supports eight distinct promotion types. Each type is designed for a specific sales strategy, and understanding the differences between them is essential for building an effective marketing plan. This article covers every type in detail, explains the distinction between invoice-level and item-level promotions, describes how the promotion engine evaluates the cart, and clarifies how priority numbers work.
The Eight Promotion Types
The following table summarizes all eight promotion types available in AccuArk:
| # | Type | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invoice Discount | Invoice-level | Applies a flat dollar amount or percentage discount to the entire invoice. Requires a minimum purchase subtotal to qualify. |
| 2 | BOGO (Buy One Get One) | Item-level | The customer buys one or more qualifying items and receives one or more reward items for free or at a discounted price. Both the qualifying and reward items must be on the invoice. |
| 3 | Bundle Deal | Item-level | A set of specific items is grouped into a package. When the customer buys all items in the bundle together, a package discount is applied. The discount can be a fixed package price or a percentage off the combined item prices. |
| 4 | Tiered Spend | Invoice-level | Spend thresholds unlock increasing discounts. For example, spend $50 to get 5% off, spend $100 to get 10% off. The highest qualifying tier applies. |
| 5 | Happy Hour | Item-level | Time-of-day based discounts that activate and deactivate automatically based on the clock. Happy Hour promotions recur daily during their active date range. For example, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM every day. |
| 6 | Flash Sale | Item-level | Short-duration promotions with optional quantity limits. Once the quantity limit is reached, the promotion deactivates automatically. Flash sales create urgency by combining a tight time window with limited availability. |
| 7 | Category/Item Discount | Item-level | Targets a specific inventory category or individual items. All items in the selected category (or the specific items chosen) receive the discount. Useful for running a sale on an entire product line. |
| 8 | First-Time Customer | Invoice-level | A one-time discount for customers with zero prior completed invoices. The customer must be identified (a customer record must be attached to the invoice) for the system to verify it is their first purchase. |
Invoice-Level vs Item-Level Promotions
Promotions in AccuArk fall into two categories based on where their discount is applied:
Invoice-Level Promotions
Invoice-level promotions calculate their discount based on the entire invoice subtotal and apply the discount as a single line item on the invoice. The discount is not allocated to any specific product — it reduces the invoice total directly.
The invoice-level types are:
- Invoice Discount — Flat or percentage off the whole invoice
- Tiered Spend — Graduated percentage off based on spend thresholds
- First-Time Customer — One-time percentage or flat discount for new customers
Invoice-level promotions evaluate the invoice subtotal (the sum of all item line totals before tax) to determine whether the customer qualifies.
Item-Level Promotions
Item-level promotions apply their discounts to specific items on the invoice. The discount appears as a modification to the individual item's price or as a separate discount line linked to specific items.
The item-level types are:
- BOGO — Discount applied to the reward item(s)
- Bundle Deal — Discount applied across the bundle items
- Happy Hour — Discount applied to items in the targeted categories or item list during the active time window
- Flash Sale — Discount applied to the specific sale items
- Category/Item Discount — Discount applied to items in the targeted category or specific items
Item-level promotions examine individual items on the invoice to determine which ones qualify and apply discounts only to those items.
How the Promotion Engine Evaluates the Cart
The promotion engine runs automatically every time the cart changes at the Point of Sale. Specifically, it is triggered when:
- An item is added to the invoice
- An item is removed from the invoice
- An item's quantity is changed
- A customer record is attached to or removed from the invoice
- A coupon code is entered or removed
When triggered, the engine performs the following steps:
- Collect active promotions — The engine gathers all promotions with a status of Active whose date range includes the current date and time, and whose location scope includes the current POS location.
- Sort by priority — The collected promotions are sorted by their priority number in ascending order (lowest number = highest priority = evaluated first).
- Evaluate each promotion — The engine walks through the sorted list and checks each promotion's qualifying conditions against the current cart contents. If a promotion qualifies, its discount is calculated and applied.
- Apply stacking rules — After each discount is applied, the engine checks the stacking rules to determine whether additional promotions can still be applied. If the global discount cap has been reached or the stacking rules prohibit further combinations, remaining promotions are skipped.
- Update the invoice — All qualifying discounts are reflected on the invoice as discount line items. The cashier sees the updated totals in real time.
This evaluation happens in milliseconds, so the cashier experiences no noticeable delay when items are scanned or added.
Priority Numbers
Every promotion has a priority field, which is a positive integer. The priority number controls the order in which promotions are evaluated by the engine:
- Lower numbers are evaluated first — A promotion with priority 1 is evaluated before a promotion with priority 10.
- Same priority — If two promotions share the same priority number, the engine evaluates them in the order they were created (by ID).
- Why order matters — Because stacking rules may cap total discounts or prevent certain combinations, the order in which promotions are evaluated affects which discounts actually apply. A high-priority promotion (low number) will be applied first, and later promotions may be blocked by stacking limits.
Best practice is to assign your most important or most customer-visible promotions the lowest priority numbers, so they are guaranteed to apply before caps are reached.
Choosing the Right Promotion Type
Use this decision guide to select the best promotion type for your goal:
| Goal | Recommended Type |
|---|---|
| Encourage larger orders | Invoice Discount or Tiered Spend |
| Move specific products | BOGO, Category/Item Discount, or Flash Sale |
| Sell complementary items together | Bundle Deal |
| Drive traffic during slow periods | Happy Hour |
| Create urgency with limited availability | Flash Sale |
| Attract new customers | First-Time Customer |
| Reward all customers on a product line | Category/Item Discount |
| Incentivize higher spending tiers | Tiered Spend |
Related Articles
- Getting Started with Marketing & Promotions (Article 96) — Full overview of the marketing module and quick-start guide
- Invoice Discount Promotions (Article 99) — Detailed walkthrough of creating invoice discount promotions
- Tiered Spend Discounts (Article 100) — How to configure spend-based graduated discounts
- First-Time Customer Discounts (Article 101) — Setting up welcome offers for new customers