Applying Discounts and Promotions at the Till
How to apply line-level and order-level discounts at the AskBiz checkout, track every discount given across your team, and monitor promotional impact on your margins.
Key Takeaways
- Discounts can be applied at line level (one product) or order level (the whole basket) at the till.
- Every discounted sale is logged — view totals in Operations > Promotions & Discounts.
- The dashboard shows Discounted sales count, Total discounts given, and Average discount value.
- Discounts reduce your margin, so the Reports section shows both revenue and gross profit after discounts.
Where to find your discount performance data
Go to Operations > Promotions & Discounts to see a live dashboard of every discount applied across your sales. The three headline metrics are: Discounted sales (number of transactions that included a discount), Total discounts given (the KSh value taken off), and Avg discount (the typical amount discounted per sale). Discounted transactions appear here as soon as a sale is completed with a discount at the till — the screen updates in real time.
Applying a discount at the till
Once a cashier has added products to the basket at the till, they can tap the discount icon next to any line item to apply a line-level discount. Enter a percentage or a fixed KSh amount. For an order-level discount that applies to the whole basket, tap the Order discount button at the bottom of the basket. Both types reduce the sale total and are logged separately so you can distinguish between product-level promotions and goodwill discounts at checkout.
Setting up named promotions and coupons
For recurring promotions — a weekly 10% off deal, a buy-two-get-one, or a seasonal sale — create named promotions from the Promotions & Discounts section. Named promotions can be triggered by the cashier selecting them from a list or by scanning a coupon barcode. This keeps your discount data clean: instead of a generic percentage, the report shows exactly which promotion drove each discount, making it easy to evaluate whether a campaign was worth running.
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Start for free →Understanding the impact on margins
Every discount you apply reduces your Gross profit. The Reports page shows Margin % after all discounts have been applied, so you always see your true profitability. If your Avg discount is high but your sales volume hasn't increased proportionally, that's a sign the discounts are eating into margin without driving additional footfall. Use the Discounts report under Operations > Reports to see which products are most frequently discounted — these might be candidates for a permanent price adjustment instead.
Controlling who can apply discounts
Under Staff management you can set discount permissions per cashier role. A standard cashier might be limited to a maximum 10% discount, while a manager can override to any amount. This prevents unauthorised giveaways and ensures the Promotions dashboard accurately reflects intentional pricing decisions. PIN-protected overrides mean every discount above the cashier's limit requires a manager to enter their PIN — creating an automatic approval trail in the Audit log.
Reviewing discount history over time
Use the date filter at the top of the Promotions & Discounts page to compare discount activity week on week or month on month. If the Discounted sales count spikes on certain days, that may correlate with a specific cashier's shift or a particular time of day. Exporting this data via the CSV button at the top of the POS screen lets you analyse it in a spreadsheet alongside your sales data for a complete promotional ROI picture.