The Simulator builds a test cart and shows you exactly which discounts apply and why. It creates no orders and touches no stock, so it is the tool for solving "the customer does not see the discount".
Step by step
- In the side menu, go to Catalog → Discounts.
- In the list toolbar, click the ▶ button (Simulator). It is not a side-menu item.
- In the Customer panel, choose Start from a real customer or fill in the fictional customer's conditions by hand.
- Under Moment, set the Date and time and the Timezone you want to simulate.
- Under Test cart, click Add product, pick a Product from your catalog and its Quantity.
- To test a coupon, enter the code under Test with a coupon.
- Click Test.
You can also get there from the wizard: the last step, Test, has the Open simulator button.
What you can configure
Customer
- Start from a real customer: you pick a customer from the list and the form is preloaded with their conditions.
- Price lists: the assigned list. Beyond filtering the audience, it defines the price each product enters at.
- Classifications: the customer's trade category.
- Tax condition
- Payment Methods
- Account age (days), Orders and In the last (days): from these three the engine derives the segment (new, returning, inactive). There is no segment picker: it is calculated from these values.
Test cart
You pick real products from your catalog, not imaginary ones. Both the visible catalog and the store's hidden products are available.
The price is not typed by hand. The system derives it from the chosen price list, and if there is no list, from the product's base price. The field shows it as "Price from list / base".
Moment
Date and time and Timezone. Useful for simulating a Saturday, a time window or a Black Friday date before it arrives.
What it shows you
- Total discount, Subtotal and Total to pay.
- Per product: each line with its quantity, price, the discounts it received with their amounts, and its total.
- Cart discounts: the general discounts prorated onto the line.
- Applied rules: which discounts fired and how much each one granted.
- Opportunities: what the cart would need to unlock more (next tier, missing amount, scheduled promotion).
- Step-by-step evaluation: the most useful part. For each rule, the detail of every gate — Audience, Schedule, Coupon, Per-customer cap, Requirements, Scope, Condition, Effect — with the exact reason if one of them failed.
The four states of a rule
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Applies | The rule fired and granted the discount. |
| Doesn't apply | It was evaluated but the condition was not met (amount or quantity not reached, incomplete combo). |
| Excluded | It does not belong in this scenario: audience mismatch, out of schedule, coupon missing, cap reached, requires another rule. |
| Error | The rule could not be evaluated. |
Typical reasons you will see: "Audience mismatch", "Out of schedule", "Coupon missing", "Amount not reached", "Quantity not reached", "Combo incomplete", "Cap reached", "Requires another rule".
When a rule loses against another it does not show up as a state. It appears as an interaction line under the rule: "Overshadowed by X (its discount is larger)", "Product claimed by X (exclusive discount)" or "Suppressed by the fixed price of X". Look for those lines, not for a state called "Overshadowed".
The "Test" step saves the rule
In the wizard, the Open simulator button on the Test step saves the discount before navigating. The step itself warns you: "The discount will be saved before opening the simulator.". This is deliberate, because the Simulator reads saved rules; without saving, you would be simulating the previous version.
If the rule has errors that block saving, the button does nothing. Go back to Review and fix what is listed under Errors blocking save.
The simulation itself creates no orders and moves no stock; what gets persisted is the rule.
If you cannot find it
- You cannot find the Simulator in the menu. It is not in the side menu: it is the ▶ button in the toolbar of the Discounts list. The same goes for Reports, which is the chart button next to it.
- You cannot type the product price. It is not an editable field: the price comes from the chosen price list or from the base price.
- You cannot find how to load a customer's existing cart. That is not available. What you can do is start from a real customer, which preloads their commercial conditions, and build the cart with their products.
- You cannot find a segment picker. The segment is derived from Account age (days), Orders and In the last (days).
- A customer is getting a percentage you did not set up in any discount. It is almost always the Custom discount field on their record (Sales → Customers), which competes against the engine and keeps the larger of the two. It cannot be turned off from Discounts: you clear it on the customer record.
- The discount applies in the Simulator but the customer does not see it in the store. Then it is not the rule: it is where it is communicated. See What your customer sees.
- You do not see "Discounts" in the menu. Sellers do not manage discounts. See Introduction.
Recommended workflow
- Save the rule.
- Build the scenario where it should apply and confirm the amount.
- Build one where it should not apply and confirm it is excluded for the right reason.
- Only then, activate it.