# Bulk-buy discount ribbon in the sidebar: no change in conversions

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Pricing, discounts & savings display, Bestseller badges & product labels
- Test run by: [Paperstone](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/paperstone/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/paperstone-revenue/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/paperstone-bulk-discount-sidebar-ribbon/

Offering bulk-buy discounts through a bright yellow ribbon in the right sidebar made no difference to conversions. Paperstone, a UK online office supplies retailer, ran this site-wide test on its own site, and it was published as a VWO case study. The team blamed banner blindness and retested the same offer with a new display, which won.

## Result

**no change in conversions**

- Conversions: no difference between the two versions. This is a flat result.
- The team concluded that visitors had not noticed the offer, not that the discount itself was unwanted.
- A later retest of the same idea with a more visible display raised revenue by 16.85%.

## Control

The site offered no bulk-purchase discounts.

## Variant

Popular products got bulk-buy discounts, promoted with a bright yellow ribbon in the right sidebar.

## Why it likely came out this way (our reading)

- Sidebars are where ads usually sit, so many visitors skip them. A bright ribbon there can look like an ad.
- Only some visitors were shopping for the discounted products, so any effect was diluted across all site traffic.
- A discount only works if shoppers see it near the moment they decide what and how much to buy.

## Caveats

No sample size, test length or numbers were shared for this first test. The flat result is about how the offer was shown, and a later retest with a new display won.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show bulk discounts on popular products where shoppers choose quantity, then average order value will rise because buyers will see the saving when it matters.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Gross margin per order
- Guardrail: Conversion rate
- Who should test it: Stores selling items people buy in quantity, like office supplies or consumables. Before testing, check the offer sits near the price or quantity picker, not in a sidebar that looks like an ad.

---

Credit: Paperstone ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/paperstone-bulk-discount-sidebar-ribbon/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.