The problems
- Discount codes don't cover every promotional scenario.
- Manual price edits at midnight are error-prone.
- Compare-at prices drift out of sync with real prices over time.
- Multi-currency and Shopify Markets pricing adds another layer of complexity.
Approaches
Discount codes
Best for customer-facing promotions with a code or automatic trigger. Doesn't work when you need the price itself to change.
Scheduled price changes
Write the new price to the product, then restore automatically. Consistent across all channels including feeds and marketplaces.
Price rules with compare-at
Set the discounted price and a compare-at price to show the strike-through. Useful for permanent price reductions.
Best practices
- Never run a sale without a scheduled end time.
- Capture original prices before promotions start.
- Verify feeds (Google Shopping, Facebook) after every price change.
- Keep compare-at prices honest — customers and regulators both notice.
Checklist
- 1Confirm affected products and collections
- 2Capture current prices as a rollback baseline
- 3Set the sale start and end dates in store timezone
- 4Communicate the change to CS and marketing
- 5Verify prices post-launch on storefront and feeds
- 6Confirm restoration ran on time
FAQ
Codes for time-limited customer-facing promotions with tracking; real price changes for site-wide sales, wholesale windows and permanent reductions.