Mix and match discounts are the most versatile discount type in the Dynamics ecosystem. It can be configured to serve multiple business cases, such as:
Buy on get on (BOGO) discounts
Buy X, get Y at a discount
Discounts across multiple lines (dollar off or percentage off)
Bundle/Kit pricing
This blog will be formatted a little bit differently since this discount type has so many different uses. I'll be showing you my most commonly used scenarios as they would be set up as a M&M discount.
There is one topic that needs to be discussed around all of the different mix and match discount types, and that is the mix and match discount line group concept.
Mix and Match Line Groups
Mix and match discounts need, for each line needs to define how many of each item/variant/item within a category are needed to qualify for the discount. They are set up as follows:
The line group is an arbitrary character or description. Depending on the use case you may want it to set the A/B/C to 1/2/3 with the associated number of products needed as their corresponding number.
The other way I've seen this done the following table:
This way we know that any A line group will need 1 product, any B would need 2, and so on and so forth. There are no rules to set this up, so do this as you see fit best for your project!
Now that that's covered, on to the discounts!
Buy On Get On Discounts
BOGO discounts are everywhere in a B2C world. In a Mix and Match discount, these are actually called least expensive-type discounts. The reason they're called that is because when setting up a BOGO discount, you set it up with a discount type of Least expensive, shown below:
In the Price/Discount section here, we've defined the calculation type as Least expensive. We can also tell here that this is a Buy One Get One Free discount by the percentage off being 100%.
We know that this is a Buy One Get One by the combination of Line group in the Lines section being 2 and the "Number of least expensive lines" number 1 in the Price/Discount section. It is not possible to have a line group that is lower than the number of least expensive lines, as that isn't possible (Buy 2 Get 3 is set up differently). The line group dictates the number of lines that are used in the discount, therefore we cannot have a number of least expensive items that qualify for a discount using 2 items more than the 2 items eligible for the discount.
Discount Configured
The discount configured above is a Buy One Get One free discount on item number 0004.
Buy One
If we're trying to find what number we should say in the BXGX schema, we simply subtract the number of least expensive lines from the number of products the line group dictates. In the example above, it's Buy One (2 - 1).
Get One
In the BXGX schema, the Get X is determined by the value in the number of least expensive lines.
One thing to note about a BOGO discount like this is that the system will automatically separate the discounted line from the non-discounted one. For example, entering this on a sales order, then saving:
Turns into this without doing anything manually:
Other Uses for Least Expensive
Another way to use least expensive calculation types is to say, "Buy any two items in this category and get one for a discount." This would be set up like the following:
This would mean that if you bought any 2 items within the Basketballs category, one of them would be free.
But what happens if they aren't the same price? If I place an order for 0029 and 0030, both in that category:
The discount would be applied like this:
Just remember, these are called "Least expensive" for a reason. The customer will always receive the discount on the item that costs the least in comparison to the other eligible items on the sales order.
Buy X Get Y Discounts
Another use for the mix and match discount is to make the purchase of one product a requirement to receive a discount on a separate product. The configuration for this is actually called a "Line spec" discount. This is where you control the discount at a discount line level instead of at a discount header level.
We'd read this as "Buy any one item in Handbags and get an item in fashion sunglasses for 50% off."
This can be done with any number of items. It just depends on which line group is used. For example, a line group of 2 on handbags would state that we need to buy 2 handbags in order to receive a 50% discount on fashion sunglasses.
Bundle/Kit Pricing
Some companies don't want to implement the kitting functionality or the BOM functionality in D365, but have groups of items that they want to be priced together when sold together. For example, a company may want to sell a flashlight + batteries combo set, where if you buy both you get them for $20 instead of the flashflight for 20 and the batteries for 3 (it would have to be a lower price for the both for the discount to apply).
This is doable with mix and match discounts.
These are called "Deal Price" discounts, where you would specify multiple line groups and quantities, and when all of them are purchased (all line group quantity requirements are met), the price would calculate to equal the deal price given.
Discount Amount and Discount Percent
The discount percent and discount amount configurations are the most basic, but also need a little bit of consideration.
The theory behind these is "if you buy X number of each of these products, you'll receive a discount of Y dollars/%."
The be clear on this, that means that the total of the purchased items will receive the discount. So if you buy 2 items for 100 dollars total, with a 30%/$ discount, it will be 70 dollars at the end of the day.
However, to get to that 70 the system will manually calculate a proportionate discount against each line as if it were a line discount per line to equal that 30%. That may mean that it's more of a discount for one item and less on the other, especially if the 2 items don't cost the same or if you are discounting an odd % or dollar amount (such as cents off).
Summary
Mix and match discounts take the most setup. But they are also the most versatile discount that D365 has to offer. I highly recommend playing around with these to see if you can get some cool business scenarios to work using them!
As always, if you'd like to comment please feel free to reach out any time!
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