You can organize your customers into groups by different criteria (wholesale clients, B2B, VIP customers, etc.) to give a special store-wide discount to the group members. As soon as members of a group log into their customer accounts in your store and visit the shopping cart, the group discount will automatically apply to the products in the cart.
Create Customer Groups
A customer group is sort of a label that you can assign to customers in order to group them under certain criteria. You can create as many groups for your customers as you need (VIP, wholesaler, B2B, repeat customer, friends and family, etc.) and assign customers to them. A customer can belong to one group only.
To create a customer group:
- Go to the store Control Panel, click Settings, and then click Customer groups.
- Click +Add new customer group.
- Enter the name of the group in the new field that appears. Customers which you’ll have assigned to this group will see the group name in their customer accounts in your store.
- Click Save.
Add Customers to Groups
To view which group your customers belong and assign customers to groups, go to the store Control Panel, click Settings, and then click Customer groups.
To include a customer in a group:
- Go to the store Control Panel, click My Sales, and then click Customers.
- Find the customer by email or name.
- Click on the - sign in the Customer group column and select the group.
- Click Save.
Customer accounts are created after order placement or registration in your store. You can also add customers manually in case of need.
Group members will see what group they belong to and what discount they have when they log into their customer accounts in your store.
Set Up Discounts for Customer Groups
Now that you have customer groups in your store, go to the store Control Panel, click Marketing, and then click Automatic Discounts and create discounts for group members.
Discounts for customer groups can be:
- Based on customer group. You can add a flat discount that can be a fixed amount off the usual product price or a percentage off. For example:
Customers from the Wholesale group have a storewide 10% discount. - Based on customer groups and subtotal. You can add tiered discounts (dollar off or percentage off the regular product price) that depend on order subtotals. For example:
Spend $350 or more, save 3%,
Spend $500 or more, save 5%,
Spend $1000 or more and get $100 off.
Discounts based on customer groups apply to all products in the cart. If you want to offer discounts for certain products only, consider using discount coupons. You can create a coupon that is limited to a particular category or certain products only and email the coupon code to the members of a group.
To set up a discount for a customer group:
- Go to the store Control Panel, click Marketing, and then click Automatic discounts.
- Click Add discount in the Based on Customer Groups section to add a flat discount or in the Based on Customer Groups and subtotal section to add tiered discounts for various order subtotals.
- In that section choose the customer group to which you want to offer this discount and specify a % or $ discount amount in the Discount column.
- To add more flat discounts or include more tiers in the discount table, click Add discount. If you need to add a subtotal-based discount for another customer group, click Add Discount table.
- Save the changes.
Once set up, the discount will be available for customers from that customer group. For the group discounts to apply, customers will need to be logged in while shopping. Once they log into their customer accounts in your store, the discount will automatically apply to the products in their shopping carts. Otherwise the store will treat them as regular customers.
Ensure the Sign In link is not hidden in your store’s footer so that members of a group can log in and purchase products with their automatic discount. You can also include a custom My Account link in your site navigation.