I display the old price (crossed out) and then the new price in the product page, but I am wondering if I should do the same in the cart and in the summary on the checkout page or just show the final price everywhere after the product page.

I might mention that it all happens in a desktop application which delivers game products, not a web e-commerce site, if it makes any difference. (a little less space, but than again shipping information do not apply, so I have a little more space in turn, if the amount of space even matters here).



It depends on your aim. What is the purpose of showing the old price? I love to keep my interfaces as clean as possible (to avoid confusing information, cognitive overload and non-aesthetic layouts), but if my users needs the price displayed I would keep it.

In case you do not need to display the old prices, but still want to remind that a discount is applied, I would choose to add a simple explanatory phrase under the total. Plain and simple. (see the sketch below)

In case you need to display the old prices I would pick the solution on the right.

Hope it helps

enter image description here


Why are you showing the old (probably higher) price on the product page? To encourage the customer to buy it because they feel they are getting a bargain.

After they have added the product to their virtual shopping cart there usually is no need nor benefit to remind them of the old price while they continue shopping at your store.

At checkout, however, it is helpful to remind the customer that they are “saving” some money (due to special sales, rebates, coupons …) in order to convince them to actually go through with the payment process. This does not need to be per item by default, because the collective sum of “savings” should be more convincing, but you should still make it possible to find out easily how much the discount was for a specific product on the list.

  • But then I show it on the product page, I hide it in the shopping cart and then show it again in the summary - shouldn't I keep it consistent, especially when I have a lot of space in the shopping cart? - And doesn't that also help to keep the user on the buying path, by reminding them the discount is still applied, like you suggest with the checkout? Right now I figured PP - sure, shopping cart - I could (enough space for it) and summary - perhaps not, because in turn there a lot of information there on that page. It's a desktop application so it all happens in a smaller-than-browser window. – Ola Osinska Feb 12 '18 at 9:23
  • No, once users have added the product to their cart, the job of the old price as an incentive to buy is done. Showing the overall discount on checkout is an incentive to pay. It affirms former decisions the customer made, because they are likely to abort the whole process. It is rather uncommon to remove something from the cart (unless it is replaced by something else) while shopping continues. – Crissov Feb 13 '18 at 8:33
  • How do you mean, when you wrote (in the original answer) that collective saving sum is better, but at the same time I "should still make it possible to find out easily how much the discount was for a specific product on the list."? – Ola Osinska Feb 14 '18 at 8:55
  • This just means you should account for how the total “discount” came to be. – Crissov Feb 14 '18 at 9:23
  • So should I list it all out or not? I'm not sure I follow you – Ola Osinska Feb 14 '18 at 9:47

Your Answer

