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# Step 1: Create discount coupons in eCommerce platform

PaCE™️ and the eCommerce coupon system have two very specific and distinct purposes:

1.  PaCE™️ -  to share the coupon code with the customer based on specific promotion criteria
2.  eCommerce coupon - to honor and provide the customer with the coupon discount when they checkout on the eCommerce platform using the coupon code

For PaCE™️ to be able to notify the customer of the coupon code that will be honored during shop checkout, the coupon code must **first** be setup in the eCommerce system, otherwise the coupon will not be validated during checkout resulting in customer dissatisfaction.

### Coupon Types

The type of coupon you can create and use with PaCE™️ will depend on the core coupon functionality available in your eCommerce platform and/or any third party coupon generator apps you may be using to provide additional functionality.

At a basic level, businesses create and issue **two different types** of coupons.

1.  Reusable of static coupons - the **same** coupon code is shared with multiple customers and shoppers e.g. love5%
2.  Unique or dynamic coupons -  a **different** coupon code is issued to each customer or shopper e.g. love5%001, love5%002

A **Reusable** coupon is usually used when you're happy for it to be used by anyone or be shared on social channels.

A **Unique** coupon provides more control and is usually used when you only want a single customer to access a specific discount. A unique coupon may be used in scenarios where the discount is of a larger value, or for a specific purpose or customer. 

Unique coupons are either usually first created in a spreadsheet and then uploaded into the eCommerce system via a CSV file. Alternatively, the eCommerce platform may provide a random generator to create unique coupons on the fly. Regardless of which method is used, the coupons need to be available in a CSV file to upload into PaCE™️ in step 2.

**Note:** We only recommend that a **separate** set of Unique coupons are used exclusively for PaCE™️ and these are not issued to potential customers either directly from your eCommerce app of via another 3rd party app. Following this approach will prevent the same coupon being issued multiple times from different sources, potentially to different customers.
  
**Note:** Some eCommerce platforms do not support **Unique** coupons as standard and they can only be created or generated by using a 3rd party application.  

### Ecommerce Coupon Guides

[ECWID Guide - Creating Coupon (Discount) Codes](https://go.helpfulcrowd.com/ecwid-guide-coupons)

[Shopify Guide - Creating Coupon (Discount) Codes](https://go.helpfulcrowd.com/shopify-guides-coupons)https://go.helpfulcrowd.com/shopify-guides-coupons

  
**Step 2**  
[Step 2a: Create Reusable discount coupon in PaCE™️](https://helpfulguides.crisp.help/en/article/step-2a-create-reusable-discount-coupons-in-pace-r5yo3t/)
[Step 2b: Create Unique discount coupon in PaCE™️](https://helpfulguides.crisp.help/en/article/step-2b-create-unique-discount-coupons-in-pace-roxau1/)