Last month, my team and I at BOGOS: Free Gift Bundle Upsell app had the chance to interview Aotea Gifts, which is a 40-year-old specialty gift retailer in New Zealand with six physical stores, and also one of our customers.
What they shared blew my mind: by ditching sitewide discounts entirely, they hit ~70% higher AOV over just 90 days.
Today, I’d like to share how they did it.
The Challenge: Sitewide deals were bleeding their margin
Their catalog spans honey, beauty, health, food, and souvenirs - all at very different price points and buying behaviors.
That said, sitewide discounts didn’t work as not every product line can absorb the same rate.
Their fix: stop running one deal, start tailoring offers per category
Aotea decided to run 6+ active offers at once, instead of one store-wide discount.
Importantly, each offer was built around a specific product line, with its own threshold, reward type, and conditions. Here’s how they set it up with our BOGOS app:
- Manuka honey (premium hero product): “Buy 5, Get 1 Free” + 20% off shipping - rewards bulk buying without directly discounting the product and cheapening it.
- Ovine skincare collection: Spend $250, get a free eye gel from the same range - pushes cross-category discovery while making the gift feel relevant, not random.
- Volume deals tuned per segment: Buy 5 Get 1 on supplements (people buy full routines), Buy 4 Get 1 on skincare (matches a complete set), tiered Buy 5/Buy 10 on low-price lozenges for casual vs. stock-up shoppers.
Key Lessons for Other Shopify Brands
Aotea Gifts’ promotion setup offers several practical lessons for Shopify merchants, particularly those managing a multi-category product catalog:
- Tailor offers per segment - don’t force one deal across different price points and buying behaviors.
- Use gifts to protect premium positioning instead of flat % discounts.
- Set thresholds based on real usage patterns, not round numbers.
- Make offers visible throughout the journey, not just on the product page.
Hope this helps anyone stuck in the same spot. If you wanna get deeper insights, you can read Aotea Gifts’ story here.
Curious what others are doing too - has anyone else moved away from sitewide discounts? What did you switch to?
