How to Put an Item on Sale on Shopify to Boost Revenue

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Understanding the Shopify Sale Mechanism
3. Step-by-Step: How to Put an Item on Sale on Shopify
4. Scaling Up: Putting Items on Sale in Bulk
5. Promoting Your Sale with Collections
6. Strategic Sales: Diversifying with Digital Products
7. Best Practices for a Successful Shopify Sale
8. Advanced Revenue Stability: The Membership Model
9. The Tevello Advantage: Pricing and Fees
10. Practical Scenarios: Sales in Action
11. Setting Realistic Business Expectations
12. Preparing Your Theme for a Sale
13. Analyzing Sale Performance
14. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
15. Conclusion

Introduction

Did you know that inventory holding costs can eat up to 25% to 30% of a merchant's total inventory value annually? For many Shopify store owners, "dead stock" is more than just an eyesore in the warehouse; it is a silent profit killer. At the same time, the creator economy is projected to reach a staggering half-trillion dollars by 2027, signaling a massive shift in how consumers value expertise alongside physical goods. Whether you are looking to clear out last season’s physical inventory or launch a high-margin digital masterclass, understanding the logistics of discounting is vital.

The purpose of this blog post is to provide a comprehensive, step-by-step walkthrough on how to put an item on sale on Shopify, while also exploring advanced strategies to maximize the impact of your promotions. We will cover everything from the basic "Compare-at price" settings to bulk editing, automated collections, and the strategic integration of digital products. At Tevello, our mission is to "turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse," and we believe that mastering your store's promotional capabilities is the first step toward building a resilient, multi-stream revenue model. By the end of this guide, you will have a clear roadmap for running effective sales that increase Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and build long-term brand loyalty.

Understanding the Shopify Sale Mechanism

Before we dive into the "how-to," it is essential to distinguish between a "sale price" and a "discount." In the Shopify ecosystem, setting a sale price involves modifying the product's pricing fields directly in the admin panel. This is often referred to as a "strikethrough" price. When you use this method, the customer sees the original price crossed out and the new price displayed prominently on the product and collection pages.

In contrast, a discount (via a coupon code or automatic discount) is usually applied at the checkout or cart level. While both result in a lower price for the customer, the sale price method is psychologically powerful because it communicates immediate value on the storefront, often before the customer even adds the item to their cart.

The Power of the Compare-at Price

The technical cornerstone of putting an item on sale is the "Compare-at price" field. To trigger the visual sale indicators in most Shopify themes—such as "Sale" badges or crossed-out prices—you must ensure the "Compare-at price" is higher than the "Price."

For example, if you are a merchant selling organic tea blends for $25 and want to run a summer promotion, you would set the "Price" to $18 and the "Compare-at price" to $25. Shopify’s logic recognizes this difference and tells your theme to display the savings.

Step-by-Step: How to Put an Item on Sale on Shopify

Managing a sale for a single product is the most common task for a store owner. Whether you are testing a new price point or highlighting a "deal of the week," here is how to execute it across different devices.

On Desktop

1. Navigate to Products: Log in to your Shopify admin and click on "Products" in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Select Your Product: Click the name of the product you wish to edit.
3. Manage Variants (If Applicable): If your product has variants (like different sizes or colors), scroll down to the "Variants" section. You will need to edit the pricing for each specific variant you want to put on sale. If there are no variants, proceed to the "Pricing" section.
4. Enter Pricing Data:
   • In the Price field, enter your new, lower sale price.
   • In the Compare-at price field, enter the original, higher price.
5. Save Changes: Click the "Save" button at the top or bottom of the page.

On Mobile (Shopify App)

1. Open the App: Tap the "Products" icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Select the Item: Tap the product you want to discount.
3. Edit Pricing:
   • For products without variants, tap the price area directly.
   • For products with variants, tap the "Variants" section, select the specific variant, and then tap its price.
4. Update Fields: Enter the original price in the "Compare-at price" field and the new price in the "Price" field.
5. Save: Tap the checkmark or "Save" button.

Troubleshooting Sale Price Display Issues

A common frustration for merchants is when a sale price appears on the product page but not on the collection page. This usually happens because of inconsistent pricing across variants. If you have a t-shirt where the "Small" is on sale for $15 (Compare-at $20) but the "Large" is still $20 (with an empty Compare-at field), Shopify may get "confused" when trying to display a single price badge for the entire product on a collection grid.

To fix this, ensure that all variants have a consistent pricing structure or that you have cleared the "Compare-at price" field entirely for variants that are not on sale. Note that entering "$0.00" in the Compare-at field is not the same as leaving it blank; a zero value can sometimes trigger "Free" badges or other theme errors.

Scaling Up: Putting Items on Sale in Bulk

When Black Friday or a major seasonal event arrives, editing products one by one is inefficient. Shopify provides a built-in Bulk Editor that allows you to update hundreds of prices simultaneously.

Using the Shopify Bulk Editor

1. Select Products: In your "Products" list, use the checkboxes to select the items you want to put on sale. You can select the master checkbox at the top to select all items on the page.
2. Enter Bulk Edit Mode: Click the "Bulk edit" button that appears in the action bar.
3. Adjust Columns: If you don't see the "Price" or "Compare-at price" columns, click "Columns" in the top right and select them.
4. Rapid Entry: You can now click through the cells and update prices. Pro tip: You can click and drag the corner of a cell (similar to Excel) to apply the same value to multiple rows quickly.
5. Save All: Click "Save" to push all changes live at once.

If you are managing a massive catalog, you might prefer the CSV export/import method. By exporting your products to a spreadsheet, you can use formulas to calculate a 20% discount across your entire inventory and then re-import the file to Shopify.

When managing large-scale updates, it's also a great time to audit your store's broader ecosystem. Many merchants find that as their catalog grows, their tech stack becomes fragmented. We believe merchants should own their customer data and brand experience, and unifying your digital and physical offerings under one roof is the best way to achieve that. If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses.

Promoting Your Sale with Collections

A price drop is only effective if customers can find it. Creating a dedicated "Sale" collection is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to discounted items.

Creating an Automated "On Sale" Collection

Instead of manually adding and removing products from a sale page, you can use Shopify's automated collections to do the work for you.

1. Create Collection: Go to "Products" > "Collections" and click "Create collection."
2. Set to Automated: Select the "Automated" collection type.
3. Define the Rule: Set the condition to: Compare-at price is greater than 0.
4. Save: Now, any time you put an item on sale by adding a Compare-at price, it will automatically appear in this collection. When the sale ends and you remove the Compare-at price, the product will automatically disappear from the page.

This strategy ensures your "Sale" tab is always up to date without manual intervention.

Strategic Sales: Diversifying with Digital Products

While physical product sales are great for moving inventory, they often come with thin margins and shipping headaches. This is where Tevello empowers merchants to think bigger. Imagine you sell high-end espresso machines. Putting a $1,000 machine on sale for $850 might move units, but it hurts your bottom line.

Instead, what if you sold the machine at full price but bundled it with a "Home Barista Masterclass" created via Tevello? Or, during a holiday sale, you offer the digital course at a 50% discount? Because digital products have near-zero marginal costs, a sale on a course is almost pure profit.

Our mission at Tevello is to provide an all-in-one ecosystem where physical products, digital courses, and community engagement live side-by-side. By using our "Native Shopify Integration," you ensure a seamless checkout experience using the payment gateways you already trust. This means your "Home Barista" course looks and acts just like a physical product in your store, making it easy to put on sale using the exact same steps we've already discussed.

When you use Tevello, you can explore all the key features for courses and communities that make these sales more engaging, such as drip content scheduling and interactive quizzes. By offering digital value, you're not just "lowering prices"—you're increasing the overall value of the purchase. This is a proven strategy for brands looking to see how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses.

Best Practices for a Successful Shopify Sale

Putting an item on sale is a technical task, but making the sale successful is a marketing challenge. To ensure your promotion drives results, follow these industry best practices:

1. Create a Sense of Urgency

A sale that lasts forever isn't a sale; it's a price drop. Use countdown timers or clear end dates (e.g., "Sale ends Sunday at Midnight") to encourage customers to act now. This psychological trigger, known as Loss Aversion, is one of the strongest drivers in e-commerce.

2. Communicate Through Every Channel

Don't assume customers will stumble upon your sale. Use:

• Announcement Banners: Use the top bar of your Shopify store to announce the sale globally.
• Email Marketing: Send a "Sale is Live" email, a "Mid-way" reminder, and a "Last Chance" alert.
• Social Media: Create dedicated graphics for Instagram and Facebook.

3. Focus on Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Use sales as an entry point to a long-term relationship. When someone buys a physical item on sale, follow up with an offer for a related digital community or course. Tevello makes this easy by allowing for a unified login that reduces customer support friction. When your customer buys a physical product and a digital course, they only need one account on your store to manage both.

4. Optimize for Mobile

Over 70% of Shopify traffic often comes from mobile devices. Ensure your sale badges and "Compare-at" prices are legible on smaller screens. Test your "Sale" collection on your phone to ensure the layout is clean and the "Add to Cart" button is easily accessible.

5. Transparency and Trust

Avoid "fake sales" where you inflate the Compare-at price just to make the discount look bigger. Modern consumers are savvy and can use price-tracking tools to see your history. Build trust by offering genuine value.

Advanced Revenue Stability: The Membership Model

While one-off sales are great for temporary revenue spikes, the most successful Shopify merchants focus on recurring revenue. Instead of just putting an item on sale, consider using a sale to launch a membership program.

With Tevello, you can create a community where members get exclusive access to digital content, early bird access to physical product drops, or special "member-only" pricing. This model provides the "recurring revenue stability" that seasonal sales lack. Merchants are increasingly strategies for selling over 4,000 digital courses natively to create these stable income streams.

By moving your community onto Shopify, you avoid the "platform tax" of third-party sites and keep your customers on your own URL. This is exactly why leaders in the space are migrating over 14,000 members and reducing support tickets by centralizing their operations.

The Tevello Advantage: Pricing and Fees

When you are running a sale, the last thing you want is for your software provider to take a piece of the action. Many "course" or "membership" apps charge success fees or transaction fees on top of their monthly subscription. We believe that's your money, not ours.

At Tevello, we offer The Unlimited Plan for just $29.99 per month. Most importantly, we charge 0% transaction fees. Whether you sell 10 courses or 10,000 during your big Shopify sale, you keep 100% of your earnings (minus your standard Shopify payment processor fees).

The Unlimited Plan includes:

• Unlimited courses and students.
• Unlimited video hosting and bandwidth.
• Full community features (profiles, member directories, social feeds).
• Drip content and quizzes.
• A 14-day free trial to get everything set up.

By choosing a predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees, you can accurately calculate your profit margins before your sale even begins. This transparency is why so many merchants are seeing how the app natively integrates with Shopify to build their digital empires.

Practical Scenarios: Sales in Action

Let’s look at how two different merchants might use these sale techniques to grow their businesses.

Scenario A: The Fitness Equipment Brand

A merchant selling adjustable dumbbells wants to clear out space for a new model.

• The Physical Sale: They put the current dumbbells on sale using a "Compare-at price" of $400, marked down to $299.
• The Digital Upsell: On the order confirmation page, they offer a "12-Week Home Transformation Video Series" (built on Tevello) for a one-time price of $19.
• The Result: The merchant clears the inventory and adds a high-margin digital product that requires no shipping, significantly boosting the average order value (AOV).

Scenario B: The Garden Supply Store

A merchant selling heirloom seeds and tools wants to increase engagement during the slow winter months.

• The Sale: They create a "Winter Planning" sale, discounting seed starting kits.
• The Community Play: They offer free access to a "Master Gardener Community" (hosted on Tevello) for anyone who spends over $50.
• The Result: By solving login issues by moving to a native platform, the merchant keeps customers coming back to their site all winter long to talk about gardening, ensuring that when spring arrives, their store is the first place those customers go to buy supplies.

Setting Realistic Business Expectations

It is important to remember that a sale is a tool, not a magic wand. While you might see a significant bump in traffic, the goal should always be sustainable growth. Putting an item on sale is a fantastic way to acquire new customers, but the real profit comes from what you do after the sale.

By diversifying your revenue streams with digital products, you are not just chasing the next holiday promotion; you are building an asset. Tevello provides a flat-rate plan that supports unlimited members, meaning your costs don't skyrocket just because your marketing is working. This stability allows you to focus on what matters: creating great products and engaging with your community.

Preparing Your Theme for a Sale

While Shopify handles the "data" of a sale, your theme handles the "visuals." Depending on which Shopify theme you are using (e.g., Dawn, Sense, or a premium theme like Prestige), the way sale prices are displayed will vary.

Customizing Sale Badges

Most modern Shopify themes allow you to customize the look of your sale badges in the Theme Editor:

1. Go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Click Customize next to your active theme.
3. Look for "Theme Settings" (usually a gear icon).
4. Find the "Badges" or "Product Cards" section.
5. Here, you can often change the color of the "Sale" badge to match your branding (e.g., a high-contrast red or a brand-aligned gold).

Adding a Countdown Timer

While Shopify doesn't have a built-in countdown timer for product pages, many themes include this as a "Section." If your theme doesn't have it, you can find various apps in the Shopify App Store. A countdown timer works best when placed near the price or the "Add to Cart" button, reinforcing that the sale price is temporary.

Analyzing Sale Performance

Once your sale is over, you must look at the data to see if it was actually profitable. Shopify’s "Sales by Discount" and "Sales by Product" reports are invaluable here.

• Total Sales vs. Net Profit: Did the increase in volume make up for the lower margin per unit?
• New vs. Returning Customers: Did the sale attract new people to your brand, or did it just provide a discount to people who would have bought anyway?
• Attachment Rate: If you used Tevello to offer a digital course alongside a physical sale, what percentage of people took the offer?

Understanding these metrics allows you to refine your strategy for the next promotion. You might find that a 15% discount with a "Free Digital Guide" performs better than a 25% discount alone.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I put an item on sale on Shopify without showing a crossed-out price?

If you want to lower the price but not show the original price (the strikethrough), simply update the "Price" field and leave the "Compare-at price" field blank. The customer will only see the new price, and no "Sale" badges will appear.

2. Can I schedule a sale to start and end automatically on Shopify?

Standard Shopify pricing fields do not have a built-in "start/end date" feature. To automate this, you would either need to use a third-party app or use "Automatic Discounts." However, with Tevello, you can "Drip" digital content so that even if a sale happens at a specific time, the content is released to the student on a schedule you control.

3. Why is the "Sale" badge not showing on my product?

Ensure that the "Compare-at price" is strictly higher than the "Price." If they are equal, or if the Compare-at price is lower, the badge will not trigger. Also, check your theme settings to ensure that sale badges are enabled for product grids.

4. Does putting an item on sale affect my Shopify transaction fees?

Shopify's transaction fees are based on the final amount processed at checkout. If you lower a price from $100 to $80, you will be charged fees on the $80. If you are using Tevello for your digital products, remember that we charge 0% transaction fees on our end, regardless of the sale price you set.

Conclusion

Learning how to put an item on sale on Shopify is a fundamental skill for any e-commerce merchant. From the manual "Compare-at price" adjustments to the power of automated collections, these tools allow you to react to market trends, clear inventory, and reward your loyal customers. However, the most successful modern brands are those that look beyond the physical shelf.

By integrating digital products and communities into your Shopify store, you can protect your margins and build a more stable, recurring revenue model. At Tevello, we are here to help you turn your expertise into an asset that lives directly on your store, right next to your physical goods. We invite you to install Tevello from the Shopify App Store today and take advantage of our 14-day free trial. You can build your entire curriculum and community before paying a cent, and with our Unlimited Plan at just $29.99/month and 0% transaction fees, your growth is entirely in your hands.

To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.