Selling tips
How to create promotions that bring in sales without hurting your profit
A practical guide to discounts for small shops: when to use percent, fixed price, limited time and limited count deals, and how to avoid the bulk price mistake.
October 3, 2026 · 4 min read
A discount feels like an easy way to get more orders. It is also an easy way to work harder for less money. The difference between a promotion that helps and one that hurts is planning: which product, how big a discount, and for how long.
This guide covers the four promotion types in ZayWalMal, when each one fits, and the one tool you should treat with care.
Know your margin before you discount
Before you pick a number, find out how much room you have. If you make 25 percent profit on a product and you give 20 percent off, almost nothing is left for you. If you are not sure of your margin, read our guide on how to price your products first.
A simple rule: never discount below the point where you still earn something after packaging and delivery.
The four promotion types
You create promotions from the Promotions page. Each one has a name, a type and a value, plus a target and an optional banner image.
Percent
A percentage off, such as 15% OFF. This is the easiest deal for customers to understand.
Best for: seasonal sales, clearing slow stock, rewarding loyal customers. Tip: keep it modest. Ten to twenty percent is usually enough to get attention. Very large percentages make customers wonder about the quality.
Fixed price
Sets an item to a specific price, such as 9,900 Ks. It ignores the percentage maths and just says "this is the price".
Best for: bundles, "starter" items, or a clean price point that is easy to remember.
Limited time
The deal ends on a date and time that you choose. After it ends, the promotion shows as Expired.
Best for: weekends, paydays, holidays and festivals. A clear end date gives customers a reason to order today instead of "someday".
Limited count
The deal ends after a set number of redemptions, such as the first 20 customers. When the limit is reached, the promotion expires.
Best for: launching a new product, or a small stock you want to clear. Real scarcity works because it is true. Only use a count you really mean.
Choose what the promotion applies to
When you create a promotion, the second step is the target:
- All items means every product in your shop.
- A collection means one group of products, for example "Shoes" or "Skincare".
- A single product means just one item.
Start narrow. A promotion on one slow-moving product or one collection protects the rest of your margin. Discounting your whole shop is rarely necessary.
Paused, live and expired
Each promotion shows one of three states:
- Live: customers can use it now
- Paused: you switched it off. You can turn it on again later without rebuilding it
- Expired: the end date has passed, or all the redemptions have been used
You can filter the list by these states, which makes it easy to tidy up old campaigns.
Be careful with Bulk Adjust Prices
On the Promotions page there is also a Bulk Adjust Prices tool. It looks like a discount tool, but it is not one.
It adds or subtracts an amount from the base price of your products, either every item or one collection. For example, entering -500 lowers each price by 500. This is a permanent price change, not a temporary sale. It will not switch itself off.
Use Bulk Adjust when your costs go up or down and you need to reset prices across the board. Use a promotion when you want a deal that ends.
Four promotion ideas that work for small shops
- Weekend flash sale. Limited time, one collection, 15% OFF. Announce it on Friday and let it end on Sunday night.
- First 20 customers. Limited count on a new product. It rewards early buyers and tells you quickly whether the product is popular.
- Clear the shelf. Percent deal on one product that has not sold, with a banner image so it stands out in your shop.
- Round number special. A fixed price on a best seller, such as 10,000 Ks, so the price is easy to remember and share.
Tell people about it
A promotion only works if customers know it exists. Share your shop link with a short message on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, and say when the deal ends. For more ideas, read how to share your shop link.