Finding full price shoppers vs discount shoppers before the sale
The short answer
Sort full price shoppers vs discount shoppers by the share of each customer's units bought at full price over two years. Above 70% marks a full-price buyer, below 30% a discount shopper, and the middle group swings with the offer. Leave out anyone with fewer than three orders, since one sale purchase says little.
Why it matters
Sending sale previews to customers who would have paid full price hands away margin on purchases you already had. Holding offers back from that group, and aiming them at true discount shoppers, protects gross margin while sale volume still lands where it belongs.
The question to ask
Copy this into Lexi as written.
What the answer looks like
Illustrative output on sample data
Illustrative example: how Lexi answers this for a homewares retailer with 160,000 customers active in the past two years. It sorts customers with three or more orders by the share of units bought at full price.
- Full-price buyers: 70% or more of units at full price, 17,900 customers.
- Discount shoppers: under 30% at full price, 21,800 customers.
- Offer-responsive: everyone in between, 24,300 customers.
What the data shows
Of 64,000 qualifying customers, more than a quarter buy almost entirely at full price.
What it means
Sending the sale preview to everyone hands a discount to 17,900 people who would likely buy anyway.
What to do
Leave full-price buyers out of the preview email, send discount shoppers the sale first and give the middle group a smaller early-access offer.
Staff purchases and service vouchers are excluded. Want me to push the three segments to Klaviyo or Meta?
Frequently asked questions
Which discounts count when measuring full-price share?
Count every price reduction the customer saw at checkout: markdowns, promo codes, member pricing and bundle savings. Leave out service recovery vouchers and staff discounts, which say nothing about how a customer responds to price. Apply the same rules across store and online, or store shoppers will look more full-price than they are.
Is a customer who bought once in a sale a discount shopper?
Not on that evidence. A single sale purchase often reflects timing, such as a gift or a replacement, more than price sensitivity. Require at least three orders before assigning a band, and recheck customers each season, since a new customer's first order often carries a welcome discount.
How do you act on promotion sensitivity without losing sales?
Change who receives each offer before changing the offer itself. Keep sale events running for discount shoppers, give offer-responsive customers smaller incentives, and move full-price buyers onto new product and early-access messages. Hold back a test group from each change and compare margin dollars after four to six weeks.