Turn slow-moving stock into a free gift with purchase on Shopify

If a product isn't selling, giving it away with bigger orders often earns more than marking it down. The markdown cuts what you get for that one item. The gift costs only what you paid for the item, and it can nudge the order over a threshold. In Smart Checkout Widgets you can run it as an automatic gift above a spend, or let buyers pick one from several slow sellers. On Shopify Plus the gift is added in checkout for the buyer. On other plans the discount makes it free once they add it themselves.

Where this came up

A thread on r/shopify this month asked what you actually do with inventory that won't sell. Answers ranged from donating it to throwing it away, and several people mentioned using it as a free gift with purchase. In September, another r/shopify thread asked which free app handles "pay 2, get 1 free". The top reply said two different things were being mixed together, which was why the app search was going nowhere.

Gift, bundle or discount?

• If the free item is the same product ("buy 2, get 1 free"), use Shopify's Buy X Get Y discount.
• If it's a fixed set sold together, use a bundle.
• If it's a different product you want to clear once an order is big enough, use a gift. That's the case here.

Pick the right stock

• Keep it light and small. A heavy gift can push the order into a higher shipping rate.
• Choose something most of your buyers can use, such as a travel size, an accessory or last season's colour.
• Count what you have and plan when to end the offer. If you have a few units each of several products, offer a choice.
• Only use stock in good condition. A gift that feels like junk makes the order look worse.

Three ways to run it

1. Automatic gift above a spend. Set the minimum a little above your current average order value, so the buyers you're nudging are the ones close to it. Automatic gifts always need a minimum, either an amount or a number of items.
2. Customer choice. Offer four slow sellers and let buyers pick one. You can cap how many they take, so "pick 1 of 4" stays within your margin. The slow stock then runs down across all four products instead of one.
3. Coupon gift. Tie the gift to a code for your email list or a win-back campaign. Removing the code removes the gift.

Settings worth knowing

• Keep the gift's normal price in your catalogue. The app discounts it at checkout. A variant priced at zero has nothing to discount, so if a gift fails to be removed it ships free instead of reverting to full price.
• Only one gift coupon works at a time, so two campaigns can't stack.
• Gift discounts always combine with your other product, order and shipping discounts.
• You can block discount codes while the gift is in the cart and show your own message.
• On paid plans you can limit a gift to certain customers, for example a VIP tag.
• When one gift is nearly gone, duplicate the campaign and swap in the next product.

Check whether it worked

The app's Results page shows orders with a gift, gifts given and their value, and the average order value of gift orders next to orders without one, for the last 7, 30 or 90 days. Bigger gift orders are a good sign, but they don't prove the gift caused it: buyers who were already spending more also qualify. Compare against the weeks before the offer as well.