Using automatic discounting for batches expiring soon

Freshly can automatically lower the price of a product variant when one of its inventory batches gets close to its expiry date, then restore the price once that batch sells out or expires. This feature is available on paid Freshly plans.

Turn on batch discounts

In Freshly, go to Preferences.
In the Batch discounts section, check Apply discount to batch. - If you see "Upgrade to Freshly ... to access automated product discounting", you're on the free plan. Click View plans to upgrade.
Enter the discount in the % discount field (for example, 15).
Enter how early the discount should start in the days before expiry date field. For example, to discount products 3 months before they expire, enter 90. This number can't be lower than the number of days set under Batch expiry for removing batches.
Optional: in Tags, enter one or more tags, separated by commas (for example, clearance, weekly-special ). Freshly adds these tags to the product while it's discounted. You can use them to build a sale collection. See Creating discounted collections based on product expiry date.
Click Save. Preferences aren't saved automatically.

Freshly checks for batches to discount every few minutes, so discounts appear shortly after you save.

Which batches get discounted

A batch triggers a discount when all of these are true:

It has an expiry date.
It expires within the number of days you set.
It's in stock, at an active location, and hasn't expired yet.

The discount is removed when the batch sells out, expires, no longer has an expiry date, or falls outside the window (for example, after you lower the number of days). If a variant has more than one discounted batch, the price stays discounted until none of them qualify.

How prices change in Shopify

Freshly discounts the whole variant in Shopify by changing its price. Using a 10% discount as an example:

Variant at $10.00 with no compare-at price. Freshly sets the compare-at price to $10.00 and the price to $9.00. Customers see $10.00 crossed out and $9.00 as the sale price. When the discount ends, the price goes back to $10.00 and the compare-at price is cleared.
Variant at $10.00 with a compare-at price of $20.00. Freshly leaves the compare-at price at $20.00 and sets the price to $9.00. Customers see $20.00 crossed out and $9.00 as the sale price. When the discount ends, the price goes back to $10.00, and the compare-at price stays at $20.00.

Keep these points in mind:

The discount applies to the whole variant. Shopify prices are per variant, so the lower price applies to every sales channel and at every location, not only to the units from the expiring batch. A customer can buy more discounted units than the expiring batch holds, so some regular stock may sell at the discounted price.
Changing the percentage doesn't update existing discounts. Variants that are already discounted keep their current price. To apply a new percentage everywhere, uncheck Apply discount to batch and click Save, then check it again, enter the new values, and click Save.
Don't edit discounted prices by hand. When the discount ends, Freshly restores the price the variant had before it was discounted, which overwrites any manual change.
Use dedicated tags. Freshly removes the tags you set in Tags once none of the product's batches are discounted, even if someone added the same tag by hand.

Turn off batch discounts

Uncheck Apply discount to batch and click Save. Freshly removes all current discounts, restores the original prices and compare-at prices, and removes the discount tags.

Track discounted products

Products > Discounted lists every variant Freshly has discounted.
Inventory Batches > Discounted lists the batches that triggered a discount.
On a product page in Freshly, the Discounted tab shows that product's discounted batches.

When a batch approaches its expiry date, the product is placed on discount until the batch quantity sells out or expires. Since there is no limit to the product quantity that can be purchased, in very rare cases, the quantity purchased at a discount may exceed the remaining discounted batch quantity. This means that some of the products may oversell the regular inventory as discounted. This should only occur if the customer adds multiple quantities (both discounted and regular inventory) to their cart.

Discount email notifications

Freshly emails a "Freshly product discount hourly digest" to the addresses in Preferences > Staff notifications > Email recipients (or your store email if that field is empty). . The email lists:

Newly discounted products, with the discounted price, percentage off, original price, and each discounted batch with its quantity and expiry date.
Products whose discount was removed, with the discounted and original prices.