Recently in the forums I answered a question that reminded me of a situation I was quite a while back. An avid Zen Cart follower had a question on how to use the attributes quantity discount option within Zen Cart.
The question was as follows:
“Can someone please tell me plain and simple, how do you use the Attributes Qty Price Discount Field?
What is the syntax?
I have a single product and price is based on quantity as follows.
1-4 $35 ea
5-9 $25 ea
10-19 $20 ea
20-49 $12.50 ea
50-99 $7.50 ea
100+ $5.00 ea”
The answer is as follows for those of you looking for it. Keep in mind that there are “2 structural ways” you can use quantity discounts within Zen Cart.
- The first way is to simply offer a quantity discount for a single product based on the number of items the user puts into their cart (like bulk discounting).
- The second way to use them is to offer a Quantity Discount on an Attribute of the product. For example and illustration, the product is priced at $50.00 and you can add-on a “pen” (again, for illustration only) for an extra $1.20. However, if you add-on 5 -10 pens, you get them for $1.00 each. Add 10 or more, get them for $.75 and so on.That is an example of using quantity discounts on an Attribute of the main product (not the main product itself).
Ok, so having explained that, I’ll detail my response to the Zen Cart question presented above. The following is how you would setup Quantity Discount Pricing for Zen Cart using the sample figures mentioned earlier.
The Answer
Take the following string (adjust to fit your needs) …
4:35,9:25,19:20,49:12.50,99:7.50,1000:5.00
And paste it into your “Attributes Qty Price Discount:” box for the product attribute you wish to “discount by quantity”.
If you are doing “Quantity Discounts (not directly related to a single product ‘attribute’)”, follow the same concept as above, except do the following:
1. From within the Admin click on Catalog > Attributes Controller.2. Find the product for which you want to offer a quantity discount for and once selected, click on the “Display” button
3. Now, the product will be selected. Click on the “Price Manager” button near the top of the page
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom of that page and find the section that says “Preview Only … Current Price Status … Preview Only”. Click on the “Edit” button.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the next screen, and find the area that says “Add 5 Blank Qty Discounts:” and has a “add blank discounts” button under it. (bottom left). Click the button. (If you need more qty discount options, click the button again until you have the required number. Each time you click, 5 more option spaces will be added). As an example, if you need 6 quantity discount options then you will need to click the button TWO times in order to get enough options to fulfill your “6 qty discount levels” needed. (you’ll end up with 10 boxes, just fill in the 6 you need and leave the remaining 4 blank).
6. That will bring up a section that allows you to set your prices and qty discounts accordingly. Set them and be sure to click the “Update” button to save. Viola, ready to go! If there are extra “option boxes”, just leave them blank. After you click “Update” they will “disappear”.
That should do it! Comments? Questions? Post them here.
The problem with the native Quantity Discounts facility provided by Zen Cart is that it must be configured item by item for each item. If you want to offer Quantity Discounts on all or most of the items in your store, you might want to investigate the Quantity Discounts contribution:
http://www.thatsoftwareguy.com/zencart_quantity_discounts.html
That Software Guy
Scott makes a good point here and one that should definitely be taken into consideration.
If you want to save yourself some time, and think you are going to be offering qty discounts on a larger number of items in your store, then you’ll find the native Zen function can be rather time consuming.
Thankfully, Scott has come up with a convenient solution. 🙂
By the way, if anyone hasn’t taken a look at any of Scott’s mods, you should consider it. He puts some good stuff out, and I’ve seen a number of his modules for Zen Cart help in nice ways.
I’ve even included a few of them on my list of “mods to have” in various places including found within the 20 Ways book.
Where is the “Attributes Qty Price Discount:” box ?
This link should get you the info you need:
http://tutorials.zen-cart.com/index.php?article=59
Good luck!
Thank you for this useful article – however, something isn’t working out right for me. My product starts with a min quantity of 10 and a purchase price of $3, and pricing correctly drops off beginning at 51 units. According to the indicator table on the product page, everything is correct:
Qty Discounts Off Price:
10-50 $3.00 (so, no discount between the minimum and 50 units)
51-100 $2.90 ($.10 discount at 51 units)
However, when I purchase the same product twice with a different attribute (adding $0.50), something fails. The formula is set to apply the discount to mixed attributes, and I can’t find the error. For instance, now in the cart:
10 units of product A – $3.00
41 units of product A w/extra $0.50 attribute – $3.40
Total is $169.40
So, it recognizes that I have a total of 51 units of product A and the price should be reduced, but the only reduction is for the $3.50, and not for the $3.00. I should be saving an additional $.10 for each of 10 units of Product A. Any thoughts?
Thank you very much!