Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Understanding the Mechanics of Sale Pricing in Shopify
- How to Put Items on Sale Shopify: Individual Products
- Bulk Editing Sale Prices for Efficiency
- Creating Automated Sale Collections
- Strategic Timing: When Should You Run a Sale?
- Maximizing Profit: The Role of Digital Products
- Best Practices for High-Converting Sales
- Scaling Beyond the Discount: Building a Digital Ecosystem
- The Tevello Advantage: Predictable Costs, Unlimited Growth
- Case Study: The Power of Bundling
- Technical Troubleshooting: Common Sale Issues
- Preparing for Your Next Sale
- Conclusion
- FAQ
Introduction
Did you know that nearly 93% of shoppers use a discount code or search for a sale at least once a year? In the competitive world of e-commerce, the difference between a stagnant inventory and a sold-out storefront often comes down to how effectively a merchant communicates value. When a customer lands on your store, their brain is hardwired to look for markers of a "good deal." This isn't just about lower prices; it is about the psychology of the "Compare-at price" and the visual cues that trigger a purchase decision.
At Tevello, our mission is to turn any Shopify store into a digital learning powerhouse, but we know that before you can scale into memberships and masterclasses, you must master the fundamental mechanics of the Shopify platform. Whether you are clearing out last season’s physical stock or launching a promotional period for your latest digital course, knowing exactly how to put items on sale Shopify is a vital skill.
This blog post will provide a comprehensive, step-by-step walkthrough of the technical process, while also exploring the deeper strategies that turn a simple price drop into a high-margin event. We will cover single-product updates, bulk editing, automated collections, and how to diversify your revenue by moving beyond physical goods into the lucrative world of digital products and community engagement. By the end of this guide, you will have a robust framework for running sales that increase Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and build lasting brand loyalty.
Understanding the Mechanics of Sale Pricing in Shopify
Before we click a single button in the admin panel, it is essential to understand how Shopify handles pricing data. Shopify uses two primary fields to display a sale: the Price and the Compare-at price.
The "Price" field is the actual amount the customer will be charged at checkout. The "Compare-at price" is the original, higher price that appears crossed out on your product page. For a sale to be visually effective, the Compare-at price must be higher than the Price.
If you simply lower the Price without filling in the Compare-at price, your customers will only see a lower number. They won’t have the visual context of the discount, which means you lose the psychological "win" of the deal. At Tevello, we believe merchants should own their customer data and brand experience, and presenting your prices professionally is the first step in that journey.
How to Put Items on Sale Shopify: Individual Products
For many merchants, especially those launching a new digital course or a limited-edition physical product, updating items one by one is the most precise method. This allows you to double-check the presentation of each page.
Step 1: Access the Product Settings
Log in to your Shopify admin panel. On the left-hand sidebar, click on Products. This will bring up your entire inventory. From this list, click on the name of the product you wish to discount.
Step 2: Navigate to the Pricing Section
Scroll down until you find the Pricing section. Here, you will see the "Price" field and the "Compare-at price" field.
Step 3: Enter the Discounted Values
Enter the new, lower price in the Price field. Then, enter the original, higher price in the Compare-at price field. For example, if your "Mastering Home Espresso" course normally sells for $99 but you want to run a weekend sale for $49, you would put 49 in the Price box and 99 in the Compare-at price box.
Step 4: Handle Variants
If your product has variants (such as different colors of a shirt or different tiers of a membership), you will need to scroll further down to the Variants section. You must click into each variant individually or use the checkboxes to edit them to ensure the sale price applies to all versions of the product.
Step 5: Save and Verify
Click Save at the top or bottom of the screen. Always visit your live storefront immediately after saving to ensure the "Sale" badge appears and the crossed-out pricing looks exactly as you intended.
Bulk Editing Sale Prices for Efficiency
If you have a large inventory—perhaps hundreds of digital templates or a vast catalog of physical goods—editing products one by one is not a productive use of your time. Shopify’s bulk editor is a powerful tool for these scenarios.
- Select Your Products: From the Products screen in your admin, use the checkboxes to select the items you want to put on sale. You can select all items or filter by category.
- Open the Bulk Editor: Click the Bulk edit button that appears at the bottom of the list.
- Adjust the Columns: If you don't see the "Price" and "Compare-at price" columns, click on the Columns button in the top right and ensure both are checked.
- Edit in Real-Time: You can now tab through the fields like a spreadsheet, updating prices rapidly. This is particularly useful for site-wide sales where you might be applying a standard percentage drop across the board.
- Save Changes: Ensure you hit Save before navigating away.
If unifying your stack is a priority, start by a simple, all-in-one price for unlimited courses. Having a fixed cost for your platform allows you to calculate your sale margins with absolute precision, without worrying about how much a third-party app will take from your bottom line.
Creating Automated Sale Collections
One of the most effective ways to manage a sale is to let Shopify do the heavy lifting through automated collections. This ensures that any item you put on sale automatically appears on a dedicated "Sales" page on your website.
To set this up, go to Products > Collections and click Create collection. Set the collection type to Automated. Under the conditions, select Product price or, more accurately, Compare-at price. You can set the condition to: "Compare-at price is greater than 0."
By doing this, any product that has a value in the Compare-at price field will automatically be pulled into this collection. This is a fantastic way to keep your store organized and give bargain hunters a single place to shop. This level of automation is why seeing how the app natively integrates with Shopify is so important for digital creators; you want your digital assets to behave exactly like your physical ones.
Strategic Timing: When Should You Run a Sale?
Knowing how to put items on sale Shopify is the technical side; knowing when is the business side. A sale without a reason can sometimes signal desperation or devalue your brand. Here are the most effective scenarios for a price drop:
1. Seasonal and Holiday Events
This is the most common use case. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and seasonal changes are expected times for discounts. Customers often save their budget for these periods, so being prepared with a clear sale strategy is essential.
2. Clearing Excess Inventory
If you sell physical products, warehouse space is money. Selling an item at a 30% discount is often more profitable than letting it sit on a shelf for six months. For digital products, while there are no storage costs, "clearing inventory" can mean retiring an old version of a course to make room for a new one.
3. Recovering Abandoned Carts
If a customer has shown intent but hasn't pulled the trigger, a limited-time sale can be the final nudge they need. You can use Shopify's automated emails to offer a discount on the specific items left in their cart.
4. Rewarding Loyalty
Instead of a public sale, you can create a private collection or use discount codes for your most loyal community members. This builds brand equity and encourages repeat purchases. We often see merchants generating revenue from both physical and digital goods by offering "member-only" pricing on physical items to those who have purchased a digital course.
Maximizing Profit: The Role of Digital Products
While a sale on physical items can drive revenue, it often eats into your margins because of shipping, manufacturing, and storage costs. This is where the power of digital products comes in. When you sell an online course or a digital download through Tevello, your "cost of goods sold" is effectively zero after the initial creation.
Consider a merchant who sells premium coffee beans. Putting a bag of beans on sale might only yield a few dollars of profit after shipping. However, if that merchant bundles those beans with a "Mastering the Pour-Over" video course, the perceived value of the bundle sky-skies. Even if the bundle is "on sale," the digital component carries a 100% margin.
By keeping customers at home on the brand website throughout this entire process, you ensure that the checkout experience is seamless. They don’t have to create a new account on a third-party platform to access their digital purchase. They stay on your URL, interacting with your brand, which significantly increases the likelihood of a second purchase.
Best Practices for High-Converting Sales
To ensure your sale is a success, follow these industry best practices:
- Communicate Clearly: Don't let your sale be a secret. Use announcement banners at the top of your site, send out an email blast, and post on social media.
- Create Urgency: A sale that lasts forever isn't a sale; it’s a price change. Use countdown timers or clear end dates (e.g., "Sale ends Sunday at Midnight") to encourage immediate action.
- Highlight the Savings: Ensure your theme clearly shows the "Compare-at" price. If the customer has to do mental math to figure out the discount, you’ve already lost them.
- Leverage Communities: If you have a built-in community, announce the sale to them first. Our users have found great success in migrating over 14,000 members and reducing support tickets by having all their communications and products in one place.
- Monitor Your Data: Use Shopify's built-in reports to see which items are performing best during the sale. This data is gold for planning your next promotion.
Scaling Beyond the Discount: Building a Digital Ecosystem
While learning how to put items on sale Shopify is a great way to generate quick bursts of revenue, the most successful merchants focus on long-term stability through recurring revenue and high-margin digital products. At Tevello, we provide all the key features for courses and communities to help you transition from a simple shop into a comprehensive learning destination.
Instead of only relying on one-off sales, imagine a model where you offer a monthly membership. This membership could grant users access to a library of videos, a community forum, and exclusive "member-only" sales on your physical products. This creates a predictable income stream that isn't dependent on the next holiday promotion.
We have seen incredible strategies for selling over 4,000 digital courses natively by merchants who realized that their expertise was just as valuable as their physical inventory. By offering a digital product, you are not just selling an item; you are selling a transformation or a new skill.
The Tevello Advantage: Predictable Costs, Unlimited Growth
One of the biggest hurdles for Shopify merchants is the "success tax" found in many apps. Many platforms will charge you more as you get more students or take a percentage of your sales. We find that model to be counter-productive to your growth.
Our approach is different. We offer predictable pricing without hidden transaction fees. Whether you have ten students or ten thousand, your cost stays the same. We believe that you should keep 100% of what you earn, especially during a big sale when every percentage point counts toward your bottom line.
Our Unlimited Plan is designed to be a robust tool that amplifies your existing efforts. For $29.99 per month, you get:
- Unlimited courses and students.
- Unlimited video hosting and bandwidth.
- Full community features (profiles, directories, social feeds).
- Drip content and quiz capabilities.
This allows you to focus on your marketing and product quality without worrying about a ballooning software bill. By solving login issues by moving to a native platform, you also reduce the "friction to buy," which is the single biggest killer of sales conversions.
Case Study: The Power of Bundling
Let's look at a practical scenario. Imagine a merchant who sells gardening tools. During the spring, they want to run a sale. Instead of just marking down their shovels and rakes, they create a "Gardening 101" digital course using Tevello.
They put the physical tools on a 10% sale, but they offer the "Complete Gardener's Bundle" which includes the tools and the course for a premium price. To the customer, the value is immense—they get the equipment and the knowledge of how to use it. To the merchant, the course adds virtually no overhead cost but significantly increases the average order value. This is how one brand sold $112K+ by bundling courses with their existing offerings.
This strategy protects your brand from being seen as a "discount brand" while still providing the incentive customers need to click "buy."
Technical Troubleshooting: Common Sale Issues
Occasionally, you might find that your sale price isn't showing up correctly. Here are a few things to check:
- Check Your Theme Settings: Some custom themes require you to enable "Show sale badges" in the theme customizer.
- Verify Currency Conversions: If you use a multi-currency app, ensure that the sale price is being converted correctly for international customers.
- App Conflicts: Sometimes, third-party "discount" apps can override the native Shopify pricing. If your prices aren't displaying, try disabling any discount-related apps to see if the native pricing reappears.
- Cache Issues: If you've saved your changes but don't see them on your phone or computer, try clearing your browser cache or viewing the site in an incognito window.
By staying within the native Shopify ecosystem, you avoid many of the technical headaches that come with "bolted-on" solutions. This is why we are so committed to a native integration that keeps everything—from your physical stock to your digital curriculum—under one roof.
Preparing for Your Next Sale
As you prepare to implement these steps, take a moment to look at your inventory and ask:
- Which products have the best margins?
- Which products are my "entry-level" items that could lead to a bigger purchase?
- Can I add a digital component to this sale to increase the value?
Running a sale is a skill that improves with practice. Start small, monitor your analytics, and don't be afraid to pivot if a particular discount isn't resonating with your audience. Remember, the goal of a sale isn't just to move a product; it’s to start a relationship with a customer that will hopefully last for years.
If you are ready to take your Shopify store to the next level, you can start your 14-day free trial and build your first course now. You can build your entire curriculum and set up your community before you ever pay a cent. This gives you the freedom to experiment and ensure your digital offering is perfect for your brand.
Conclusion
Mastering how to put items on sale Shopify is an essential component of the modern merchant’s toolkit. By understanding the visual impact of the Compare-at price, utilizing bulk editing for efficiency, and leveraging automated collections, you can create a dynamic and engaging shopping experience. However, the most successful merchants recognize that sales are just one part of a larger ecosystem.
By integrating digital products and communities, you can diversify your revenue streams and build a business that is resilient and profitable. At Tevello, we are here to support that journey by providing a native Shopify solution that keeps your customers on your site and your data in your hands. We believe in a flat-rate plan that supports unlimited members, ensuring that as your business grows, your costs remain predictable and your profits remain yours.
To build your community without leaving Shopify, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from. Take advantage of our 14-day free trial and see how easy it is to unifying a fragmented system into a single Shopify store. Let’s turn your store into a digital learning powerhouse today.
FAQ
Q: Will putting items on sale affect my SEO? A: Generally, no. In fact, running sales can improve your SEO by driving more traffic to your site and increasing your click-through rate (CTR) from search results if you use structured data that displays sale prices. Just ensure you aren't constantly changing URLs.
Q: Can I schedule a sale to start and end automatically in Shopify? A: Standard Shopify requires you to manually change the prices or use a third-party app to schedule them. However, you can use Shopify's "Launchpad" if you are on a Shopify Plus plan, or various discount apps for basic plans to automate the timing.
Q: How do I handle digital course sales versus physical product sales? A: The technical process in the Shopify admin is the same. However, with Tevello, you can create specific "access levels" for your digital products. You might run a sale on the "Basic" version of a course while keeping the "Premium" version at full price to encourage tiered purchasing.
Q: Do I have to pay transaction fees on my sale items? A: While Shopify charges its standard payment processing fees, Tevello charges 0% transaction fees on any digital products or courses you sell. You keep 100% of your earnings minus the payment processor's cut.
