When a promotion’s Applies to is set to Specific products, the discount only touches cart items that match your targeting rules. Everything else in the cart stays full price — shoppers see the discount applied to just the qualifying lines.
🖼️ [SCREENSHOT: “Which products” section with a category selected and two products excluded — promotion form, Applies to = Specific products]
How matching works
The rules read like this:
- Empty include lists = everything matches. Leave all four include lists blank and every product qualifies — then use exclusions to carve items out.
- Any include list narrows the match. A product qualifies if it matches any include list (product OR category OR brand OR tag) — they broaden each other, not intersect.
- Exclusions always win. An excluded product never gets discounted, even if it matches every include list.
- Never-discount products always win too. Items flagged Exclude from promotions on their product page are skipped by every promotion — see below.
The four include lists
| List | How you pick | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Include products | Search by name or SKU (type to search; top 20 shown) | Exactly these products |
| Include categories | Search or browse (list appears on focus) | The category and everything filed beneath it — picking a parent covers all its subcategories |
| Include brands | Search or browse | All products of those brands |
| Include tags | Type a tag and press Enter (or comma) | Any product carrying one of these tags. Case-insensitive |
Selections appear as chips with an × to remove; Clear all wipes a list.
💡 Tip: Tags are the most flexible lever — tag products
clearancein the catalog and a single tag rule targets them all, no picking required. Manage tags on the product page — see Products.
Exclusions
Exclude products — never discounted by this promotion, even when they match an include rule. Use it for the “everything except…” campaigns: include a whole category, exclude the two flagship units.
Exclude from promotions (per product) — the stronger, permanent version. On any product’s edit page, check Exclude from promotions and that item stays full price through every promotion and popup reward, forever, without touching each campaign. The Promotions page shows a running count of flagged products.
🖼️ [SCREENSHOT: Product edit page with the “Exclude from promotions” checkbox ticked — Catalog → Products → (product) ]
⚠️ Warning: Switching Applies to away from “Specific products” clears all five lists when you save. That’s deliberate — a whole-order promotion must not secretly carry old product filters — but it means flipping back later starts you from scratch.
Worked examples
| Goal | Setup |
|---|---|
| 10% off all chainsaws | Include categories: Chainsaws |
| 10% off chainsaws, but not STIHL | Include categories: Chainsaws · Exclude the STIHL units by product (or run a brand-scoped include for the brands you DO discount) |
| $20 off two specific models | Include products: the two models · Type: Fixed amount off |
| 15% off everything except MAP-protected gear | Leave includes empty · flag the protected items Exclude from promotions on their product pages |
| Clearance blowout | Tag items clearance · Include tags: clearance |
How the discount is split
For Specific products promotions, the discount is calculated on the qualifying lines only, and each line records its exact share — so margin reporting per product stays honest even on partial-cart discounts.
Next: Margin protection.