Margin Intelligence
The real margin cost of a discount once it's run through COGS, stacked with other offers, or combined with free shipping.
Agentis analysis of Shopify's own discount-combination documentation confirms an order-level discount code combines with a free-shipping discount by default, no special setup required. On an $80 order with 40% gross margin, a 20% discount code cuts gross profit from $32 to $16, and stacking an $8 shipping cost on top drops it to $8, a 75% cut in what the order was expected to earn.
Agentis analysis of Shopify's own documentation confirms a customer can stack up to 5 product or order discount codes plus 1 shipping code, 6 total, on one order. Each code applies to the already-discounted subtotal, not the original price, so five stacked 10% codes cut the price by 41%, not the 50% naive addition suggests.
Agentis analysis shows a 'Buy One Get One 50% Off' promotion applies its discount to only one of the two units purchased, making the effective discount rate on the full purchase 25%, not the 50% the headline implies. On two $40 items, the customer pays $60 total instead of $80, half the savings a shopper skimming the ad might expect.
Agentis analysis of Shopify's own discount documentation confirms discount usage is unlimited by default: a code with no configured limit can be redeemed any number of times by anyone who finds it. A 20% code built for one email list, at a $75 average order, gives up $15 per redemption, which is $1,500 across the first 100 orders it reaches after leaking to coupon sites.