
How to Add “You May Also Like” Section on Shopify? (With no App)
The Shopify “You May Also Like” feature is a simple but effective way to suggest products your customers might be interested...
Digital Marketing Specialist
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.
“Buy X get Y” promotion allows customers to receive an extra item (Y) as a gift when they purchase a specific product (X). This tactic enables merchants to encourage their customers to spend more, leading to a higher average order value and improved sales performance.
Here are 7 common types of “Buy X Get Y” promotions Shopify merchants use:
So, what are the benefits behind the “buy X get Y” Shopify promotion that appeals to many merchants?
“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.
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.
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.
Shopify merchants have two primary methods to implement “Buy X, Get Y” offers: using Shopify’s native discount feature or installing third-party apps. Let’s explore each option to help you decide which is best for your store.
Shopify’s built-in discount feature is available to all merchants regardless of their plan level. This internal tool allows you to create various promotional offers without additional costs or installations, including “Buy X Get Y” promotion.
This limitation means customers might miss out on their rewards if they don’t understand they need to add the free product to their cart. To fix this problem with “Buy X Get Y” promotions, merchants often turn to third-party promotion apps that can automate the process.
There are alternative ways merchants can automatically add free gifts to carts on Shopify, which I’ll explain in this article: How to automatically add free gift to cart on Shopify?.
👉 Who is this Best For? Merchants with simple promotion needs, stores on a budget, or businesses testing promotional strategies before investing in more robust solutions.
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:
Customer gets consist 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.
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.
One such powerful Shopify “Buy X, Get Y” app is BOGOS.io Free Gift & Bundles. This app stays ahead of the Shopify Buy X Get Y app by offering dynamic gifts to win customer satisfaction. DW Tool Shop, one of the largest suppliers for the local farming community in the UK and Ireland, has successfully driven more sales and profitability using BOGOS-powered “Buy X, Get Y” promotions.
BOGOS has helped us drive more sales and profitability by using features like free gift promotions to attract customers to our online store and encourage them to complete their purchases. As a result, we’ve been able to boost engagement and connect with more customers
Michael, DW Tool Shop eCommerce Manager.
BOGOS is designed to help merchants easily create and manage promotions, including advanced targeting, priority settings, and real-time analytics. The app offers a 7-day free trial so you can test all of it function.
To create a “Buy X Get Y” promotion on Shopify using BOGOS Free Gift & Bundle, please watch this detailed tutorial video:
💡 You might want to read: 6 Best Buy X Get Y Shopify App in 2025
Even with careful setup, merchants sometimes find their “Buy X, Get Y” promotions aren’t functioning as expected on your Shopify store.
Here are some of the problems you might encounter when creating “Buy X Get Y” promotions:
>>> If you’re experiencing these issues, turn to our insightful article on Shopify buy X get Y not working for a straightforward and useful guide with practical solutions.
Here are some of our advice to maximize the effectiveness of “Buy X Get Y” promotion for your Shopify Store:
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
If you have successfully set up a buy X, get Y discount Shopify, but it does not work, consider some potential technical problems.
It might be software bugs, unmet discount conditions, coding errors, or customer misunderstandings. One way or another, you must review the discount configuration, check system logs, or contact user support.
As much as native Shopify features are easy to use and solve basic issues, a Shopify app is better off as your primary solution.
It allows you to set up complex discount rules with more customizable options for better customer targeting. At the same time, it ensures an intuitive interface and dedicated support.
Yes, Shopify will track and update your inventory for all products included in the buy X, get Y promotion, whether they are the trigger product (X) or the additional item (Y). That way, you can monitor the stock and adjust the campaign for an adequate service.
It is possible to customize the promotion’s message to let customers know about the offer. This can be done via product page banners, email notifications, and cart or checkout messages.
In Shopify’s default settings, it is the discount title that you can configure from the start.
Yes, Shopify enables store owners to create more complex promotions such as “Buy 2X, get Y” or “Buy X, get 2Y” by configuring the conditions appropriately during the setup procedure. You just need to change the number of X and Y accordingly.
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