> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Discounts Given Over Time, Shopify > Discounts Given Over Time for Shopify stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Daily timeseries of total discount applied to orders. The promotional health view: when did promotions run, how heavy were they, what was the post-promo recovery shape? | | | | ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `DATE_HISTOGRAM(day, SUM(totalDiscounts))` over the 90-day window. Sum of discount value applied per day, including order-level and line-item-level discounts. | | **API endpoint** | `Admin GraphQL. Order.totalDiscounts` plus `Order.discountApplications` for breakdown by source. | | **Discount sources included** | Manual codes, automatic discounts, Shopify Functions discounts, buy-X-get-Y, free-shipping discounts (where the discount is recorded as a line). | | **VAT / tax treatment** | Discount values follow store tax setting; VAT-inclusive stores show VAT-inclusive discount amounts. | | **Shipping** | Free-shipping discounts ARE included in `totalDiscounts`. | | **Refunds** | Refund-related adjustments NOT separately tracked here; cross-reference [Refund Value](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-value). | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Discounts on cancelled orders still bucket on their order day. | | **Currency** | Multi-currency arithmetic sum WITHOUT FX conversion. Filter to single currency for accurate stores transacting in multiple. | | **Channels / sources** | Online + POS + B2B all contribute. POS price adjustments at the till count as discounts. | | **Time window** | `90D` (daily buckets) | | **Alert trigger** | None on this card directly; pair with [Discount % of Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/discount-of-revenue) for the alerted ratio. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation ``` DATE_HISTOGRAM SUM(totalDiscounts) WHERE date BETWEEN [period_start, period_end] ``` ## Worked example A US apparel brand on Shopify Plus. Period: 12 Feb 26 to 12 May 26. Daily total-discount summary: | Period | Avg discount / day | Notable peaks | | ---------------- | ------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | | 12 Feb to 25 Feb | \$850 | Steady (welcome code, base level) | | 26 Feb to 04 Mar | \$1,140 | Mild lift, tiered loyalty unlocks | | 05 Mar to 09 Mar | **\$8,200** | Spring promo: SPRING20 / 20% off | | 10 Mar to 14 Mar | \$4,180 | Code still live but tapering | | 15 Mar to 24 Mar | \$920 | Returned to baseline | | 25 Mar to 12 Apr | \$880 | Steady | | 13 Apr to 16 Apr | **\$3,640** | Easter campaign | | 17 Apr to 25 Apr | \$980 | Recovery to baseline | | 26 Apr to 12 May | \$1,020 | Steady, slight lift from Mid loyalty unlocks | Five things to notice: 1. **Two clear promo events stand out.** Spring (05-09 Mar peak) and Easter (13-16 Apr). Each shows a clean ramp-up, peak, and return-to-baseline shape. 2. **The Spring tail (10-14 Mar) reveals coupon stacking.** \$4,180 / day for 5 days after the peak suggests the SPRING20 code wasn't fully shut down, or it was extended via influencer codes that overlapped. Pair with [Top Discount Codes](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-discount-codes) to confirm. 3. **Baseline is informative.** $850 to $1,020 / day is the "always-on" promotional cost: welcome codes for new subscribers, abandoned-cart vouchers, loyalty-tier unlocks. This is structural and rarely worth fighting; the question is whether the promo events are paying back vs the always-on cost. 4. **Promotion-to-recovery shape matters.** Spring's recovery to baseline took 6 days (15-20 Mar); Easter's took 3 days. Faster recovery suggests Easter was driven by genuine seasonal demand; Spring may have pulled forward demand that would have come anyway, hurting margin. 5. **POS discounts contribute the surprise.** A staff training week 26-28 Mar included a 20% off employee discount across 3 retail outlets, contributing \$640 / day in line items. The card sums all sources; bonus categories (employee, wholesale, charity) need filtering at the source-tag level for cleaner promotional analysis. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Discount timeseries needs context. Pair with these: | Card | Why pair it with Discount Over Time | What the combination tells you | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Total Discount](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-discount-used) | The 30D summary value. | Trend reveals the shape; total gives the headline. | | [Discount % of Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/discount-of-revenue) | Discount as a share of revenue. | A high discount day on a high-revenue day is healthy; a high discount day on a flat-revenue day is margin destruction. | | [Revenue Over Time](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/revenue-over-time) | Revenue counterpart timeseries. | Plot together, the lift in revenue on promo days quantifies promotional ROI. | | [Top Discount Codes](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-discount-codes) | Which codes drove the peaks. | Identifies which coupon caused which spike. | | [AOV](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/average-order-value) | AOV usually drops during promos. | The AOV dip during a discount peak quantifies promotional cost in unit-economics terms. | | [Orders Over Time](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/orders-over-time) | Volume counterpart. | Orders × AOV × (1 - discount %) = revenue; the timeseries decomposition of growth. | | [`google_ads.google_promo_keywords`](/nerve-centre/google_ads/google_promo_keywords) | Ad spend on promo keywords. | Aligns promo timing with paid-search amplification. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Shopify Admin:** [Analytics → Reports → "Discounts"](https://admin.shopify.com/reports/discounts) → set the date range and resolution. Shopify's report gives daily / weekly discount totals plus a breakdown by code. The headline number should align with this card to within sync-lag tolerance. Other Shopify Admin views: * **Reports → Sales by discount**: same data, different framing. * **Discounts page**: shows current active codes; not historical. * **Apps like Lifetimely, Polar Analytics**: build profit-aware discount views by allocating margin per discount; useful complement. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Shopify Admin:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ----------------------------- | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary days | Shopify uses store time zone for buckets; Vortex IQ uses store time zone for daily bars but UTC for window edges. | | **Discount source** | Either | Shopify can split by discount type or app source; this card aggregates all discount types into one timeseries. | | **Refund-attached discounts** | Either | Refunds that adjust the discount allocation can move historical buckets in Shopify; the card uses the latest indexed value. | | **Cancelled orders** | Both include | Both Shopify and the card include discounts on cancelled orders. | | **Sync lag** | Ours lower for "today" | 5 to 15 minute index lag. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`google_ads.google_promo_keywords`](/nerve-centre/google_ads/google_promo_keywords) | Ad spend on promo keywords during peak days | Spend lift should precede the discount-give peak by 0 to 2 days; lag suggests organic / email-driven, not paid. | | [`klaviyo.klaviyo_campaign_revenue`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_campaign_revenue) | Email-driven promo days | Aligns Klaviyo campaign sends with the discount spikes. | ***
Same-metric documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) The same definition lives on other commerce platforms. Cross-platform navigation only. * [`bigcommerce.discount_over_time`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/discounts-given-over-time) * [`adobe_commerce.discount_over_time`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/discounts-given-over-time)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is my baseline discount higher than I expected?** Always-on promotions add up. Welcome codes, abandoned-cart vouchers, loyalty unlocks, employee discounts, and influencer codes that never expired all contribute to the baseline. Audit your active codes and check what is silently running. **Why does the spike look smaller than my "20% off everything" promo would suggest?** Several reasons: * Not every order used the code; usage rate is typically 30 to 60% of orders during a promo. * Customers who would have ordered without the discount used it anyway, the discount went to natural-demand buyers, not incremental ones. * Order mix shifted; not all line items were eligible (some categories often excluded). **Free shipping discounts, are they here?** Yes, if recorded as discount lines. Some Shopify configurations record free shipping in `totalShippingPrice` set to zero rather than as a discount; check the [Free vs Paid](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/free-vs-paid-shipping) card for that view. **Refund timing, do refunds appear here?** No. The card sums discount-at-order-time. Refunds are tracked separately in [Refund Value](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-value). Discount-and-refund interactions (e.g. customer used 20% off then returned the goods) need cross-card analysis. **Cancelled orders, are their discounts counted?** Yes. Discounts on cancelled orders bucket on their order day. To exclude, filter out `cancelledAt IS NOT NULL` orders manually. **Multi-currency, any impact?** The card sums in original currency without FX. Stores transacting in multiple currencies see distorted totals; filter to a single presentment currency. **Shopify Plus vs basic?** Plus stores use Shopify Functions for richer custom-discount logic (tier-based, exclusive bundles). The card captures the resulting discount value; the source attribution differs but the totals align. **Refresh cadence?** 5 to 15 minute index lag; daily buckets recompute each cycle. **B2B vs DTC?** B2B price catalogues often apply standing discounts (10% off list for tier-A customers). These appear here daily as a steady contribution. A B2B-heavy store should expect a higher baseline; the dynamic peaks usually come from DTC promo events. **The card spiked unexpectedly, what should I do?** 1. Cross-reference [Top Discount Codes](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-discount-codes) for the peak day. 2. Confirm the active campaign list, an unintended-still-live code is the most common cause. 3. Check whether a partner / influencer code went viral. 4. If the peak is genuine promo, evaluate ROI: what was the revenue lift? Did AOV move? Was the campaign profitable? *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Discounts Given Over Time* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Shopify and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.