How to Create a “Buy X Get Y” promotion on Shopify in 2025?

According to Capital One Shopping Research, 91% of American shoppers check for discounts or promotions before making a purchase. This highlights a crucial aspect of promotional strategy for online business success.

Among diverse promotional tactics, “Buy X Get Y” promotion remains the most used approach for Shopify e-commerce merchants to enhance their customer experiences and increase average order value. 

But how can you set up a “Buy X get Y” promotion on Shopify to maximize sales for your store in 2025? In this article, we will uncover everything you need to know.

1. What is Shopify Buy X Get Y?

Shopify buy x get y promotions are special deals that give customers extra items (Y) when they buy certain products (X). This simple but powerful strategy encourages customers to buy more, which increases your store’s average order value and improves sales performance.

These Shopify buy x get y deals have two main parts that work together:

1. The “X” Part (What Customers Must Buy): This is what customers need to do to get the deal. It can be:
   • Buy specific products (like “Buy any t-shirt”)
   • Buy a certain amount (like “Buy 3 items”)
   • Spend a minimum amount (like “Spend $75”)
   • Choose from certain categories (like “Buy from the winter collection”)
   • Mix different products (like “Buy 2 items from different sections”)
2. The “Y” Part (What Customers Get as a Reward): This is the bonus customers receive. It can be:
   • Free products (same or different items)
   • Discounted items at lower prices
   • Special perks like free shipping

Buy X Get Y deals are similar to BOGO (Buy One Get One) offers, but they’re more flexible. BOGO usually means getting the same product twice, but Buy X Get Y lets you mix different products and create better deals for your business.

Use BOGO when you want to move identical inventory quickly or promote repeat purchases of the same item, while Buy X Get Y works better when you want to cross-sell different products or clear varied inventory.

2. 6 common types of Buy X Get Y for a Shopify store

Here are the most popular Shopify buy x get y deals that store owners use:

• Buy X Get Y For Free – The simplest type, where customers buy some items and get extra items for free. For example, “Buy 3 shirts, get 1 free” or “Spend $100, get a free bag.”
• Buy X Get Discounted Y – Customers get bonus items at lower prices instead of free. For example, “Buy 2 jeans, get the third for 50% off” or “Buy any skincare set, get moisturizer for $10.”
• Buy One Get One (BOGO) – The classic deal where customers buy one item and get another identical item free or discount. This Shopify buy x get y type works great for everyday products or items people buy regularly.
• Buy X & Y and Get Z – Customers must buy two specific items (X and Y) to get a third item (Z) free. For example, “Buy a laptop and mouse, get a free case” or “Buy shampoo and conditioner, get a free hair mask.”
• Buy X and Get Y & Z – A bigger deal where buying one item gets you multiple free or discounted items. For example, “Buy any dress, get a free scarf and 20% off shoes.”
• Tiered Buy X Get Y – Deals that get better as customers buy more, encouraging bigger purchases. For example, “Buy 2 items get 10% off the third, buy 3 items get 15% off the fourth, buy 4+ items get 20% off extra items.”

⚠️ Important Notice: While Shopify’s built-in features can handle basic Shopify buy x get y promotions, more complex offers like “Buy X & Y and Get Z” or “Tiered Buy X Get Y” require a Shopify buy x get y app to work properly. These third-party apps provide advanced functionality and automation that Shopify’s native tools cannot offer.

If you have special requirements or want to customize your BXGY settings beyond standard options, you can always contact the app developers to ask about custom configurations tailored to your specific business needs.

3. Benefits of “Buy X Get Y” Promotion for Shopify Stores

So, what are the benefits behind the “buy X get Y” Shopify promotion that appeals to many merchants?

Increase Average Order Value (AOV)

“Buy X, get Y” promotion effectively motivates people to buy more to qualify for the discounted or free item.

To activate the promotion, their cart must meet specific criteria, such as total price or product number. As buyers spend more to meet the threshold, the average order value and overall sales volume increase.

Plus, this is a powerful marketing material. It helps attract new customers to your Shopify store, increasing traffic.

Clear Slow-Moving Inventory

Face it – not all available products in your store will sell easily.

The “buy X, get Y” discount helps clear out your excess inventory more quickly. You would be glad to sell away seasonal goods or items at the end of their life cycle.

This is also a good chance to market specific products that might not have been selling well. When promoting this deal, you can highlight its features and benefits.

Promote new products

There is no better timing to launch new products than during a “buy X, get Y” Shopify campaign.

The promotion brings more exposure to these items, ensuring that a broader audience is aware of them. Did you know that people are more inclined to try new things if they are free or discounted?

Thus, this type of incentivization can easily increase the initial sales volume of your new products.

4. How To Create a “Buy X Get Y” Promotion on Shopify?

Typically, Shopify merchants have two primary methods to implement “Buy X, Get Y” offers: using Shopify’s native discount feature or installing third-party apps.

• Shopify’s native discount feature comes free with your subscription and works well for basic Shopify buy x get y promotions. This built-in tool is perfect for small stores with simple promotional needs and limited budgets. You can create standard BOGO deals and basic quantity discounts without any additional costs.
• Third-party apps offer more sophisticated promotional capabilities for a monthly fee, typically ranging from $5-50+. These specialized tools provide advanced features like automatic gift addition, detailed analytics, complex promotion types, and enhanced visual merchandising with custom banners and cart notifications.

While both options can create BXGY promotions, Shopify’s native discount feature has one major flaw: customers must manually add gift products to their cart, even when they qualify for free items. Many customers forget this step or don’t understand how it works, leading to missed promotions and lost sales.

Third-party Shopify buy x get y apps solve this problem by automatically adding gifts to the cart or showing them through popups and sliders. This automation significantly improves conversion rates and ensures customers actually receive their earned rewards.

4.1 Create Buy X Get Y promotion with Shopify Native Discount

Despite its limitations, Shopify’s native discount feature remains a viable option for basic promotions. Here’s how to set up a Shopify buy x get y offer using the built-in tools:

Step 1: Visit your Shopify admin dashboard > Click Create discount and choose Buy X, get Y.

Step 2:

Select the automatic discount method and name this offer to display in cart and at checkout.

Regarding Customer buys, decide whether customers need to meet a minimum quantity of items (number) or purchase amount (monetary value) (product X).

Step 3:

The “customer gets” section consists of the conditions for product Y. You can choose between 3 discounted values, including percentage, amount off each, and free.

The maximum number of uses per order restricts the times this discount is applied to each purchase. Other than being available on all sales channels, this “Buy X, Get Y” discount can be offered at the Point of Sale.

Step 4:

Configure your promotion to combine with other active discounts: product, order, or shipping discounts.

Then, set its active dates, including the start and end times for pre-scheduling. Click Save for later use or Publish to activate the offer instantly.

4.2 Top 3 Shopify Buy X, Get Y Apps

If your online store requires complex functions to optimize customer experiences and drive more sales, leveraging Shopify “Buy X Get Y” apps becomes a go-to choice. These third-party apps offer a high level of customization, enabling merchants to tailor their “Buy X, Get Y” promotions to specific needs. 

Here are our top 3 Shopify Buy X, Get Y apps that you should consider trying:

BOGOS Free Gift, Bundle & Upsell stands out as the most comprehensive solution with advanced analytics, customer segmentation, and extensive support options. Its “Built for Shopify” certification and compatibility with POS and headless commerce make it ideal for businesses planning to scale across multiple sales channels.

AOV Free Gift offers a balanced approach with essential features at competitive pricing. While it lacks POS and headless support, it provides solid functionality for standard Shopify stores focused on increasing average order value through gift promotions.

BOGO+ presents the most affordable entry point but comes with significant limitations. Without Shopify certification, bundle support, or multi-language capabilities, it’s best suited for very basic promotional needs on single-language stores.

For most merchants looking to implement effective Shopify buy x get y promotions, BOGOS provides the best combination of features, reliability, and comprehensive support that justifies its higher price point through superior functionality and growth potential.

👉 For more reviews of “Buy X, Get Y” apps, check out this blog: 6 Best Buy X Get Y Shopify Apps in 2025

5. How to create “Buy X, Get Y Free” Promotions and automatically add a free product to cart?

The automatic addition of free products to the customer’s cart is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of your Shopify buy x get y promotions. When customers qualify for free items but have to manually add them, conversion rates drop significantly due to confusion and forgotten steps.

While Shopify buy x get y apps provide the easiest solution for automatic gift addition, merchants have other options that require technical expertise.

• Custom Coding: Experienced developers can build this functionality using Shopify’s API and JavaScript to automatically add gift products when conditions are met. However, this requires advanced programming skills and ongoing maintenance. For detailed guidance on this approach, check out Shopioso’s YouTube tutorial that walks through the technical implementation process.
• Using the Shopify Flow app: Shopify merchants can use Shopify Flow to create automated workflows that trigger when specific conditions are met. While Flow is powerful for automating various store processes, setting up automatic gift addition requires technical knowledge of workflow creation, API connections, and conditional logic. This solution also has limitations compared to dedicated promotion apps and may not provide the same level of customization or user experience.

For the majority of Shopify store owners, investing in a dedicated promotion app proves more cost-effective than developing custom solutions, especially when considering the time, technical expertise, and ongoing maintenance required for DIY approaches.

>>> If you’re experiencing other issues when creating “Buy X, Get Y” promotions on Shopify, turn to our insightful article on Shopify buy X get Y not working for a straightforward and useful guide with practical solutions.

6. Successful brands using “Buy X, Get Y” promotions to learn from

DW Tool Shop

DW Tool Shop is one of the largest suppliers for the local farming community in the UK and Ireland, serving professional farmers and agricultural workers. They leverage strategic product bundling in their BXGY promotions, pairing popular farming tools with complementary accessories. When customers buy essential equipment like power tools, they automatically receive related items like safety gear or maintenance accessories at discounted prices. This approach not only increases their average order value but also ensures customers have everything they need for their projects.

What you can learn from them:

• Bundle complementary products that customers naturally need together
• Focus on practical value rather than random gift items
• Target professional customers who appreciate comprehensive solutions

Glam42

Glam42 is a beauty and cosmetics retailer that focuses on affordable luxury skincare and makeup products for young professionals. They use tiered BXGY promotions to encourage larger beauty purchases. Their “Buy 2 skincare products, get 1 free” offer scales up to “Buy 4 products, get 2 free,” creating clear incentives for customers to add more items. They display these offers prominently on product pages with countdown timers to create urgency.

What you can learn from them:

• Create tiered promotions that reward bigger purchases
• Use urgency tactics like countdown timers to drive action
• Make promotion details highly visible on product pages

Sephora

Sephora is a global beauty retailer known for its premium cosmetics, skincare, and fragrance products with a strong focus on customer experience. They integrate BXGY offers seamlessly into their loyalty program, offering exclusive free samples and deluxe minis when customers purchase full-size products. They display these offers through elegant popups that match their premium brand aesthetic, and gifts are automatically added to the cart without customer confusion.

What you can learn from them:

• Integrate promotions with your loyalty program for exclusivity
• Use high-quality gift items that match your brand positioning
• Ensure the promotion experience reflects your overall brand quality

7. How To Use Buy X Get Y Effectively To Boost Sales?

Here are some of our advice to maximize the effectiveness of “Buy X Get Y” promotion for your Shopify Store:

Make the offer clear 

“Buy X, Get Y” offers should include easy-to-understand terms and conditions. These offers must convey straightforward messages and be displayed prominently across key areas of the store using banners or pop-ups. 

Group complementary products together

The best way to incentivize customers is to choose complementary products for each “Buy X, Get Y” deal. For example, if they purchase a camera (X), offer a relevant accessory like a backup lens (Y) at a discounted price. This strategy is helpful for cross-selling, as it pairs best-selling items with ones that are less likely to be purchased independently. Plus, you can also take advantage of this type of promotion to clear out inventory. 

Set a purchase threshold for X

You should configure a minimum purchase requirement for the X product. Try setting a high threshold for customer eligibility, such as “Buy 2, get 1 free” instead of “Buy 1, get 1 free.” By doing this, you encourage larger orders, which in turn raise your AOV.

Discount strategy for Y

The truth is that you don’t always need to offer the Y product for free if you prioritize scaling your profit. Consider applying a fixed or percentage discount to these goods, such as “Buy 2 T-shirts, get the third for 50% off.” This strategy ensures your promotions do not severely impact your profit margins.

Combine with other discounts

Another tip is to combine the Shopify’ buy X get Y’ automatic discount with offers like a sitewide percentage discount or free shipping to make them more attractive to customers. Additionally, merchants can try bundling their goods to create a “buy X, get Y” offer. An offer like “Buy 3 items from this bundle, get 1 free.” will motivate customers to purchase complementary goods together, enabling product bundling and cross-selling opportunities.

Set limits and expiration dates

In some cases, creating limited-time promotions can encourage customers to complete their purchase processes more quickly. If shoppers see an offer that is valid for a limited period, they will likely place an order to take advantage of it, driving more conversions.

8. Conclusion

That wraps up our detailed instructions on how to use “Buy X, Get Y” discounts to grow your Shopify store more effectively. This type of promotion is one of the basic options available for Shopify stores, yet if initiated properly, it can yield significant results.

The best way to fully utilize its functionality is to combine Shopify’s native settings with a robust third-party app like BOGOS. This combination ensures brand owners can scale their business and branding while enhancing customer satisfaction.

So, what are you waiting for? Set up the offer for your campaign and let’s get to work!

9. FAQ