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Happy Labor Day.
Most brands are running the same sale today. A percentage off, sitewide, for the long weekend.
It works. It also makes every order cheaper, including the ones people were going to place anyway.
Jones Road is doing something different. Buy one product and you get nothing at all. The discount only unlocks once the basket grows.
So before your next promotion, ask one question:
What behaviour is this discount actually paying for?
Today:
We break down the Labor Day sale that makes customers earn the discount. Show you how to finish an abandoned online cart inside your store. Share the latest ecommerce news. And give you one Growth Rep to complete today.
Today’s Deep Dive
Jones Road’s Labor Day Sale Makes You Earn the Discount
It is Labor Day.
Jones Road is running a sale.
But guess what?
Buying one product gets you no discount.
The savings unlock only when the customer buys more:
Buy 3 products. Get 20% off.
Buy 5 products. Get 25% off.
And buy 7 or more. Get 30% off.
The discount increases the basket
A customer with one $38 Miracle Balm must add two more products to unlock 20% off.
That moves the basket from $38 to roughly $114 before the discount.
The cart keeps the offer clear. It shows the next reward. Tells customers how many products to add. Then recommends eligible products.
Build your next holiday sale backwards
Start with the order value you want.
Then work backwards:
Set the target order value.
Calculate how many products will reach it.
Place the first discount above your current average order.
Increase the reward as the basket grows.
Show progress towards the next tier inside the cart.
Check your contribution margin at every tier.
The larger basket still needs to remain profitable after the discount. Product costs. Shipping. Fulfilment. And payment fees.
Stop defaulting to sitewide discounts
Use your next holiday promotion to reward the behaviour your business needs.
That could mean buying more products. Spending more. Or helping you move selected inventory.
A flat discount makes every order cheaper. A tiered discount makes the basket bigger.
The How-To
How to Complete an Abandoned Online Cart in Store
Shopify has launched a new POS feature.
Store staff can now see products left in an identified customer’s online checkout. They can answer questions. Find the products. Then complete the purchase in store.
Here is how to set it up.
Step 1: Update Shopify POS
The feature requires Shopify POS version 11.14 or later.
Step 2: Give staff access
In Shopify Admin, go to:
Settings → Users → Roles → POS roles → Customers
Enable:
Create new customers
View customer details
And view abandoned checkouts
Step 3: Identify the customer
Ask for the customer’s email address and add it to the POS cart.
Shopify will display an Items in online cart message when an eligible abandoned checkout exists.
Step 4: Open their online cart
Tap the customer’s name.
Shopify will show up to three products from the abandoned checkout. Tap View all to see the complete list.
Step 5: Complete the purchase
Ask whether the customer still wants any of the products.
Add the selected items to the POS cart. Then complete the purchase in store.
This works when the customer entered an email during online checkout and left without purchasing for at least 10 minutes.
Shopify shows the products they left behind. It does not reveal their browsing history.
While You Were Building
In the Headlines
OpenAI calls Astra its most capable model yet. It is built to handle complex work across browsers, apps and files with less supervision. Access is rolling out gradually.
Campaigns using automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match begin upgrading this month. Check your account before Google switches on AI Max settings for you.
Starting September 19, Sephora will release monthly product drops through shoppable videos and TikTok Live events featuring founders, creators and celebrity hosts.
On Socials
What I like most is the order: unit economics comes before ads because scaling a broken model only helps you lose money faster.
Ideas Worth Stealing
Borrow the celebrity association
This ad runs entirely on celebrity credibility without a single celebrity endorsing anything.
They aren't even wearing True Classic.
They're wearing a plain fitted tee, and the ad points at it, names the rule behind the look (tight on the arms, loose on the midsection, no logo) and then sells the cheapest shirt that obeys it.
The celebrity creates the aspiration, the rule makes it something the viewer can verify on any famous person they see, and True Classic arrives as the conclusion rather than the claim. And "they never have logos" turns not being a designer label into the exact reason it qualifies.
💵 Today's Growth Rep: Put A Number On Everything You Give Away
Open your product page and find every place you promise something for free.
Free shipping. Free gift. Bonus included. Complimentary guide.
Now write down what each one is actually worth, and put that number next to it.
Do it in four places:
The buy box, beside every included item
The bundle or subscription option, where the gifts stack up
The announcement bar, if that is where your offer lives
The ad that sends the traffic, so the number lands before the click
"Free gifts" is a nice-to-have. "$43 in free gifts" is a reason to take the bigger option.
Add the numbers before the day ends.
In Case You Missed It
Grüns built its $1.2B business by selling one core product through dozens of persona-specific funnels, matching each audience’s problem, proof, and messaging from ad to landing page.
Presented by Hubspot
2 minutes. Your URL. A customer profile worth using.
Most founders can describe their product. They can't describe their customer. Not in a way that actually changes how they sell.
HubSpot for Startups built a free tool to fix that. Paste in your URL, answer a few quick questions, and it generates a structured profile of your best-fit customer. Firmographics, buying triggers, the works.
Takes 2 minutes. No spreadsheet required.