Virtuemart is the leading and most robust e-commerce system for Joomla, much less the most feature rich I’ve seen for a CMS. One day, I was approached by one of my clients who was wondering if their site was able to generate discount coupons for the shopping cart on their site, and if so, set one up that takes 15% off the total purchase before taxes. Not being a Virtuemart expert myself, I did some investigating on the site’s backend.
The first thing I did was log into the site’s backend and went to the Virtuemart component.
Virtuemart is a Joomla Component.
Once you’ve selected the component admin section, make sure that you are in the Configuration portion. Following that, make sure you’re in the Global tab. What we’re doing is that we are making sure the ability to use discount/coupon codes is enabled on the store’s front end. To enable the use of discount/coupon codes, the Enable Coupon Usage box must be checked in the Frontend Features section.
The Enable Coupon Usage box must be checked so that users can input discount/coupon codes.
Remembering what my client said, they also wanted the discount to be applied BEFORE taxes and shipping. To enable this feature, check the box labeled Subtract payment discount before tax/shipping located in the Tax Configuration tab.
Only check this option if you want to apply the discount before taxes and shipping!
After these settings are enabled, any discount/coupon codes you generate should work on the site’s shopping cart. To create a code, go under Coupon > New Coupon in the Virtuemart Admin area.
This is where coupons are generated.
Coupon Code – The string of characters entered in this field is what users type in to receive their discount.
Percent or Total – Choose a percentage of the total to be deducted or a flat number to be deducted from the user’s total
Coupon Type – Options include Gift Coupon or Permanent Coupon. For temporary discounts and promotions, the Gift Coupon option is recommended.
Value – The value represents the percentage or amount of dollars deducted with the coupon.
Example: I want to create a discount code that gives users 20% off their next purchase on my site.
In order to create a coupon from the example, I would first give the coupon code. I’d make the code something like blowout20 or something like that. I would send out that code to my repeat customers or post it on the homepage of my site. Second, I’m using the code as a percentage, so I’ll want to have the Percent radio button selected and Gift Coupon as my coupon type. Finally, the value should be 20, seeing the code is giving users 20% off.
That’s it! You can remove coupons at any time by going under Coupon > Coupon List and deleting whatever coupons you no longer need.
Good luck, and if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, leave ‘em here. 
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This is great thanks, what happens if I only want the discount to come off once they’ve spent a certain $ amount… eg: if they spend $40 or over they get 10% discount?
That’s a very good question. Based on the setup I have on the site I made the tutorial from, there is no way of implementing this feature. It doesn’t mean the feature doesn’t exist, but it does mean I’m unsure of a solution at the moment. I’m actually looking for a point or rewards feature that can allow users to input codes to redeem for points that lead to discounts. Any information on that would be helpful, too.
Thank you for the comment and for checking out the post. It’s greatly appreciated!
Hi, I run a personal training company with online booking via our website. I have a coupon box available for clients who book one session, However if you go to the packages tab I want to offer discounts on all of the packages i have is this something I am actually able to do and if so how , i’m dying here !!! Thanks
Based on the instructions that I have set up, creating a coupon code would be able to handle this for you. Otherwise, this forum thread may help you out better than I can: http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=21728.0
Great info, thanks.
But i would like to know how to make this for one product specifically.
So only poeple who get the code can order only one product with reduced prize.
Any idea how to do this, anybody?
Cora
I have no idea on how to do this. It’s been forever since I’ve dabbled with VirtueMart.
Okay – I would like the coupon to apply to all items in their cart separately – not as a whole – so x-amount off of each item – is this possible? I have been trying to get this to work it seems like forever but cannot!
Any feedback is appreciated!