The most effective marketing tools are undoubtedly special offers and promotions.
They help draw customers’ attention to certain products, and make it easier to convert visits into sales.
When visiting an online store, one way to draw visitors’ attention to promotions is to display crossed-out prices.
A crossed-out price accompanied by a new, lower price can significantly influence visitors and boost sales.
Let’s take a look at how to take advantage of crossed-out prices in a Prestashop online store! 
What are crossed-out prices?
The use of crossed-out prices consists of displaying a product’s original crossed-out price alongside its current selling price on the e-commerce site.
As the current selling price is lower than the crossed-out price, this gives the customer the impression that the product is being sold at a greater or lesser discount, depending on the difference.
The use of crossed-out prices serves several purposes:
- Increased perceived value: with a higher original crossed-out price, the consumer perceives a higher product value.
- Easier price comparison: easy comparison between the original price and the current price can facilitate the act of buying.
- Creating a sense of urgency: crossed-out prices can create a sense of urgency among customers, encouraging them to buy quickly before the price rises back to its initial level.
- Stimulating sales: a customer who feels he’s getting a bargain thanks to a price reduction will be more inclined to buy the product.
Please note, however, that the use of crossed-out prices is subject to regulations.
Under no circumstances may the original price be artificially increased to make customers believe that they are benefiting from a greater discount.
A seller who fails to comply with the regulations governing crossed-out prices may be accused of deceptive commercial practices, and risks criminal and financial penalties.
Crossed price management
The use of crossed-out prices in Prestashop requires the ability to configure specific prices including a discount (direct or calculated as a percentage of the original price).
The calculated price must be applied from the first unit sold.
You then need to ask Prestashop to display the “Promo” banner for the product concerned.
The price is then displayed alongside the original crossed-out price.
In this way, the customer is provided with transparent pricing information.
Let’s take a product with an original price of 50 euros.
In Prestashop, we define a new price to which we apply a 10% discount from quantity 1.
You also need to check the “Display a Promo banner” box on the product page.
A crossed-out price of 50 euros will then be automatically displayed next to the new price of 45 euros. 
Questions you might ask about crossed-out prices
There are many questions to ask about the management of crossed-out prices in Prestashop.
We’ve selected a few of them to help you understand the mechanism of crossed-out prices in Prestashop.
Is it possible to customize the appearance of the crossed-out price in Prestashop?
It’s entirely possible to customize the display of crossed-out prices in Prestashop by modifying the associated CSS code in the Prestashop theme you’re using, or by using a customization module if you’re not comfortable with the code.
Is it possible to hide the percentage discount and the crossed-out price for certain customer groups?
It is possible to modify the PHP code of the Prestashop theme used to add a condition to the display of the crossed-out price.
If you’re not comfortable with PHP, you can use a third-party module.
Is it possible to manage crossed-out prices during sales or temporary promotions?
Simply enter the start and end dates of the promotion, as well as the percentage or amount of the discount to be applied to the original price.
Prestashop will then automatically display the crossed-out price for the duration of the promotion.
Do crossed-out prices affect Prestashop store SEO?
The use of crossed-out prices in a Prestashop online store has absolutely no impact on SEO.
The presence of interesting promotions can, however, attract more visitors and thus increase traffic as well as the site’s conversion rate.
What modules are available for Prestashop to manage crossed-out prices?
There are many modules available for customizing Prestashop’s crossed-out price management.
We’ll mention three free ones here, but there are many others, particularly paid ones, which sometimes offer additional functionalities.
Advance Promotion Manager
This module makes it easy to manage promotions and discounts in Prestashop.
Advanced features allow you to define special prices according to criteria such as product category, customer group or validity period.
It is also possible to customize the display of crossed-out prices on the site.
Specific Prices Manager
This module lets you define special prices and promotions in Prestashop.
Here too, you can define selection criteria such as quantity purchased, customer group or validity period.
Crossed-out prices can be hidden for certain customer groups.
Price Drop Alert
This module allows customers to sign up to receive e-mail notifications when the price of a product drops.
It is not specifically designed to manage crossed-out prices, but can be a good complement to encourage customer engagement and boost sales.
To conclude on crossed-out prices in Prestashop
Displaying crossed-out prices on a Prestashop online store is fairly easy to implement, and can quickly increase the number of visits to the site and the conversion rate.
If you’d like to implement crossed-out prices on your Prestashop online store, but aren’t sure how to go about it or which module to choose, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thanks to my experience in Prestashop development, I can help you customize and optimize your online store.
