Quantity Discount
A quantity discount is a price reduction where the per-unit price drops when a customer buys more units or reaches a defined quantity tier.
What is a quantity discount?
A quantity discount is a pricing structure where the customer pays less per unit the more units they buy — usually split into tiers such as “buy 3+ save 10%” or “buy 10+ save 20%”. It can trigger automatically once a certain quantity is in the cart, or show up as a price ladder directly on the product page. The goal is to reward larger orders without lowering the list price for everyone.
Why does a quantity discount matter?
A quantity discount is one of the most direct levers for raising average order value, because it gives the customer a concrete reason to add more units to the cart. It is also used to clear slow-moving stock and to make B2B and wholesale customers more loyal. The trade-off is that each discount tier cuts into your contribution margin, so tiers should be calculated from real margin — not just a round percentage.
Common use cases
- Wholesale and B2B: fixed price ladders for resellers buying in larger batches.
- Consumables: coffee, supplements, or capsules where customers happily buy several at once.
- Inventory clearance: temporary quantity discounts on end-of-life stock instead of one deep markdown.
- Multipack alternative: a per-unit discount instead of a fixed product bundle.
Shopify perspective
Shopify’s standard online store has no built-in quantity-tier pricing on the product itself — a basic automatic discount or discount code can apply a percentage once a minimum quantity is reached, but it will not display a price ladder on the product page. For that you need a discount app or a custom product discount function via Shopify Functions (which has replaced the old Shopify Scripts). On Shopify Plus, B2B does support quantity rules and volume pricing natively through catalogs, with no third-party app.