What "discount on the second item" means

With this kind of promotion, you pay full price for the first item and get money off a second one, usually a fixed percentage such as 30 or 50 per cent. Unlike buy one get one free, the second item does not become completely free; it just gets cheaper by a certain share.

The wording is often something like "50 per cent off the second item" or "second item half price", and it usually appears right next to the promotion for a particular product group.

How it differs from a discount on the whole order

A discount on the second item only applies to part of your order, not to the full amount. As a result, the real saving as a percentage of the whole order always turns out lower than the advertised percentage, because that figure only refers to one of several items.

So 50 per cent off the second item does not mean you end up paying 50 per cent less for the whole order, but a good deal less than that, depending on how many items are in your basket and what they cost.

A worked example with two items at the same price

Say two pairs of trousers cost 50 euros each, making 100 euros together without a discount. The promotion promises 50 per cent off the second item. You pay the full 50 euros for the first pair, and the second pair is half price, so 25 euros. In total you pay 75 euros instead of 100.

That is a saving of 25 euros, or 25 per cent on the whole order, even though the promotion is advertised as "50 per cent". With this type of promotion, the gap between the advertised and the real discount is particularly large.

When the two items cost different amounts

With items at different prices, many shops specify that the discount automatically goes on the cheaper of the two, whatever order you put them in your basket. Say you add a pair of trousers for 50 euros and a jumper for 30 euros, making 80 euros together. The 50 per cent discount applies to the cheaper jumper, so to 30 euros, which gives you 15 euros off.

In total you pay 65 euros instead of 80, a saving of 15 euros or just under 19 per cent on the whole order. That is less than with two items at the same price, because the amount taken off depends on the cheaper item.

Does the order in your basket make a difference?

Even though "second item" sounds like it is about order, in practice it is usually the price that decides, not the order in which the items were added to the basket. Adding the more expensive item first normally makes no difference to the fact that the discount ends up on the cheaper one.

If you want to check whether a particular shop works this way too, look at the basket once both items are in it, rather than relying only on the order you added them in.

Some shops only show the discount correctly once both items are in the basket at the same time, not when you add the first one. So do not be surprised if the reduction is not visible at first and only appears after the second item.

When the promotion is worth it for you

A discount on the second item is most worthwhile when you need two items from the same category anyway and both cost about the same, because that is when the percentage saving on the whole order is largest. The bigger the price gap between the two items, the smaller the real saving, because the discount always goes on the cheaper one.

If you put three items in your basket instead of two, many promotions still only reduce one single item. With three pairs of trousers at 50 euros each, you then pay 125 euros instead of 150. That is only just under 17 per cent on the whole order. Some shops, on the other hand, reduce every second item, so with four pairs of trousers, two of them. You can tell which rule applies from the amount taken off in the basket.

If you only need one item, the promotion does nothing for you. A second item bought only because of the discount is still extra spending that would not have happened without the promotion, reduction or not.

A quick calculation before you pay

• Check whether the advertised percentage applies to a single item or to the whole order.
• With items at different prices, work out which item the discount is automatically applied to.
• Compare the real saving in euros with a standard percentage discount on the whole order.
• Ask yourself whether you would have bought the second item without the promotion.

How the maths behind a buy one get one free offer works is explained in the article Working out buy one get one free deals. You can read how a discount on the most expensive item works in the article Discount on the most expensive item. How discounts on the cheapest item are calculated is covered in the article Working out a discount on the cheapest item. You can find current promotions by category on the categories page.

Frequently asked questions

Does the discount always go on the cheaper item?

In most cases, yes, because that works out best for the shop. You only know for sure from the amount shown in the basket, though, as individual shops can set the rule differently.

Why is the real saving smaller than the advertised percentage?

Because the percentage only applies to one of the two items, not to the whole order. The saving on the total is therefore always below the advertised figure.

Does the order in which I add items to the basket matter?

Usually not. The discount generally depends on the prices of the items, not on which one went into the basket first.

Is the promotion worth it if I only want one item?

No, because then the discount does not apply at all, as it is tied to a second item. A second item you do not need is still extra spending, even with money off.