Shopify Sales by Discount Code Report

Discounting is a great trick for merchants to move their stock and increase sales volume. But offering discounts can be tricky. Offer too little and a promotion fails. Offer too much and your profits go downhill. Offer at the wrong time or to the wrong people and you will lose brand value with revenue. One bad choice is all it takes to create such problems.

You need to track your discount campaigns in detail to make them successful. The Sales by Discount Code report helps you record sales by individual discount codes over a defined period.

Offering discount codes to promote a new product or clearing out year-end inventory? Expressing gratitude to repeat customers or driving seasonal sales? Whatever the reason, you’ll find data on sales generated by each discount code in this report. 

Analyze this report and gain insights into:- 

• Customer reactions to new products
• Customer buying behavior
• Product lineup
• Pricing strategy 

The Sales by Discount Code report ensures your discount campaigns help improve customer loyalty and brand awareness. 

Why Sales by Discount Code Report?

The Sales by Discount Code report helps merchants optimize their discount strategies by tracking key metrics like Order Count, Gross Sales, Discounts, Refunds, Net Sales, Tax, Shipping, and Total Sales. It reveals which discounts drive the most sales, and highlights the impact of taxes and refunds. With data-backed insights, merchants can refine promotions, reduce losses, and strengthen customer relationships.

This shows that the Sales by Discount Code report:

• The store owner/ merchant understands which discount code drives most sales. 

Repeating it is likely to bring in more sales and retain repeat customers.

• It is easy to segment customers and market to them more effectively. 

They’ll know what to expect from your brand, when, and how much, improving brand awareness and loyalty.

• Reveals the best time and methods to distribute discount codes. 

You’ll increase sales and get up on the competition's special sales seasons. Combine with Sales by Channel report to recognize the most rewarding channels to distribute discount codes. 

• Details discount campaign finances for accurate accounting

Learn the impact of your discount campaigns on your overall finances with an eye on taxes. You can use this data to rework your procurement process, lowering costs and increasing margins and customer satisfaction. 

You get more insights about your discount codes-based sales as you dig deeper into this report.

Data Fields in the Sales by Discount Code Report

The standard fields in this report are:

• Discount Code: alphanumeric code applied by customers during the checkout process to reduce their final purchase cost. It includes codes applied by staff for POS orders
• Order Count: number of orders placed by discount code over a specified period
• Gross Sales: revenue earned from a specific discount code before discounts and returns over a specified period. Calculated as Product price * Order quantity
• Discounts: Total discount amount resulting from an applied discount code.
• Refunds: amount refunded for an order placed using a specific discount code
• Net Sales: actual returns on a sale by discount code. Calculated as Gross Sales - Discounts - Refunds
• Tax: total tax collected for an order placed using a particular discount code
• Shipping: shipping amount collected to deliver orders placed using a specific discount code
• Total Sales: total returns made on a sale by discount code. Includes taxes, shipping, discounts, and refunds.

How the Sales by Discount Code Report Works

Let’s first look at how Shopify discounts are calculated. 

1. Fixed Amount Discount: a conditional flat discount value.
   Example: a flat $20 discount on orders above $100; or, $20 off a customer’s first order 

2. Percentage Discounts: a percentage-based discount applied to the total order amount. It may or may not be conditional. The rate may apply to all ordered items or vary per product. 
   Example: a 20% overall discount applied to a $150 sale; the discount will be ($150 x 20 / 100) = $30

The Sales by Discount Code report uses the above methods to help merchants.

This report helps businesses understand: 

1. Assess Discount Effectiveness – Understand how discount rates influence sales volume and profitability.
2. Upgrade Offer Management– Determine if a percentage-based or flat-rate discount yields better results.
3. Identify Best-Selling Discounted Products – Pinpoint which discounted products drive the most revenue.
4. Clear Unsold Inventory Strategically – Use discounts to move slow-moving stock without hurting margins.
5. Improve Seasonal Sales Planning – Analyze past campaign performance to refine future discount strategies.
6. Track Taxes on Discounted Sales – Ensure accurate tax calculations and compliance while running promotions.‍
7. Monitor Returns Related to Discounts – Helps to get clarity on whether discounts lead