Extend Cyber Monday only with a clear, real deadline
· Portican team
Set up an extended Cyber Monday with a dated discount: the product page shows a countdown and the price returns on its own.
You extend Cyber Monday by moving the end of the discount on the products on sale and announcing the new deadline the same way everywhere. The product page then shows a countdown to the real end, and after it the price returns on its own.
An extension only makes sense if you can keep to it: you have the goods in stock, your margin can take it and the deadline will not be moved again.
How do you extend a discount on a product?
In the Portican admin, open Catalog → Products, click the product and go to the Sales and stock block. The promotion has three fields there: Discount in %, From and To.
The steps are these:
- Check which products should stay in the extension.
- In the To field, set the new end of the promotion.
- For products you no longer want to extend, leave the end as it is.
- Save the change and open the product in the store as a customer.
- Check the price and the countdown.
The discount is a percentage with a deadline, not a second price. The price changes on its own when the promotion starts and returns when it ends. If you overwrite the price by hand, you lose the original value and the promotion will not end by itself.
Do not leave the To field empty. A promotion without an end applies until you delete the discount, and the price then looks permanently reduced. In that case the customer does not even know how long the offer lasts.
What will the customer see in the store?
When the promotion has an end set, the product page shows a countdown to the end of the promotion under the price. The deadline is real: when it passes, the price returns and the countdown disappears.
That is exactly why you should be clear about what you are promising before you extend. A countdown that starts over after the end would mislead the customer. So extend once, with a new date and a reason you can explain, for example that you restocked or want to give more time to customers who missed the purchase.
Adapt the promotion text to what actually ends. If the discount stops applying after the deadline, say so. If only discounted shipping or a discount code ends, do not promise the end of the whole offer.
Why not use the cart countdown for this?
The cart and checkout can show an Order cut-off countdown, but it has nothing to do with the campaign. It belongs to the Shipping and payments → Order cut-off screen and says by when you need to order for the shipment to leave today. It is shown in the last two hours before the cut-off.
If you turned it into the end of the promotion, you would promise something different from what the customer reads. For Cyber Monday, the To field on the product is therefore what counts. Leave the order cut-off as it matches your packing and dispatch.
Where do you need to change the deadline?
The deadline must be the same everywhere the customer sees the promotion. Check:
- the To field on every product on promotion,
- the banner and texts on the home page,
- the description or terms of the promotion on the product,
- emails and newsletters that have yet to go out,
- ads that state the original date,
- posts on social networks.
If the announcements disagree, the customer does not know which date applies and may feel misled when buying. So start with the products and only then change the communication, so that an ad does not promise a discount that no longer applies in the store.
How do you protect your margin and stock?
An extended promotion often sells goods that are already running low. Before moving the deadline, look at the number of pieces and availability for each product. If you allow ordering at zero stock, the stock can go negative and shows how many pieces you still owe.
Fill in the purchase price alongside the selling price, and the Sales and stock block then shows the margin and how much you are left with per piece excluding VAT. If you sell below the purchase price, the screen warns you.
How do you evaluate the extension?
Evaluate the extension from the orders in Sales → Orders. Compare the extended days with the last day of the main promotion and with the ordinary days before it. What matters to you is the number of orders, the revenue and the margin after the discount, not just the number of pieces sold.
Also write down what changed in the meantime, for example whether an email went out or an ad was running. One number from one day is not yet a trend. Use the result when planning the next promotion, not as proof that an extension will always work.
You will find an overview of all the settings in the Portican features.
Frequently asked questions
Does the price return by itself after the promotion ends?
Yes. After the deadline in the To field, the price returns and the countdown on the product page disappears.
Can I extend a promotion that is already running?
Yes. In the Sales and stock block, change the To field and save. Then announce the new deadline in all the other channels too.
Can I use the cart countdown for the end of the campaign?
No. The order cut-off countdown says by when you need to order for the shipment to leave today. It has nothing to do with the end of the discount.
What happens if I leave the To field empty?
The promotion applies until you delete the discount, and the price looks permanently reduced.
How big can the discount be?
The discount is a whole number from 1 to 90.