Mastering 'Was' and 'Now' Pricing Displays on BigCommerce: A Comprehensive Guide

For any e-commerce merchant, clearly communicating discounts and promotions is paramount to driving conversions. On BigCommerce, this often involves displaying a "Was" price alongside a "Now" price, visually highlighting the savings for your customers. While seemingly straightforward, the exact mechanism behind how these prices appear can sometimes lead to confusion. As experts in BigCommerce migrations and optimizations at Big Migration, we frequently encounter questions about this very topic. Understanding the interplay between your product settings and your store's theme is crucial for accurately showcasing your sales and ensuring a seamless customer experience.

The Foundation: BigCommerce's Core Pricing Fields

At the heart of BigCommerce's pricing system are three primary fields, each playing a distinct role in how your product prices are presented. You can access and manage these fields for any product by navigating to Products → View, selecting the desired product, and then opening the Pricing section.

• Price: This is your standard, regular selling price. It's the default value for your product. In many sale scenarios, if a Sale Price is active, the Price field will often serve as the "Was" price.
• Retail Price (MSRP): Standing for Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, this field represents the recommended selling price. While its primary purpose is to display the manufacturer's suggestion, certain themes are configured to use this field as the "Was" price, especially when you want to show a discount off the official MSRP rather than your own regular price.
• Sale Price: This is the dedicated field for your promotional or discounted price. When populated, the Sale Price typically overrides the standard Price and becomes the "Now" price, indicating the current reduced cost to the customer.

The magic happens in how these fields interact. Here’s a common breakdown of their display logic:

• Price + Sale Price: If both are entered, your theme will generally display the Price as "Was" and the Sale Price as "Now." This is the most common setup for a direct sale.
• Retail Price (MSRP) + Price: If a Sale Price is not present, some themes might use the Retail Price (MSRP) as "Was" and the standard Price as "Now," showcasing a discount off the suggested retail.
• Only Price: If only the Price field is populated, no "Was" price will typically be shown, as there's no comparative value.

For clarity, here's a simplified view of these fields in the BigCommerce admin:

Products > [Select Product] > Pricing
  Price: $X.XX (e.g., $100.00)
  Retail Price (MSRP): $Y.YY (e.g., $120.00)
  Sale Price: $Z.ZZ (e.g., $80.00)

The Critical Role of Your BigCommerce Theme

While the product pricing fields are the source of the data, it's your BigCommerce theme that dictates how that data is interpreted and presented on your storefront. This is where many merchants encounter variations and need to understand their specific theme's logic.

BigCommerce themes, especially those built on the modern Stencil framework, offer significant flexibility in how they display product information. Different themes, or even different versions of the same theme, can have unique configurations for handling "Was" and "Now" pricing.

Theme Settings and Customization

Many themes provide options within the theme customizer to control pricing display. To check these settings:

1. Navigate to Storefront → My Themes.
2. Click Customize on your active theme.
3. Look for sections related to Product Cards, Product Details, or Pricing in the theme settings panel. Some themes, like Cornerstone, might have specific toggles or dropdowns that influence which pricing field is prioritized for "Was" displays.

For example, a premium theme might allow you to choose whether the "Was" price should always be the Retail Price (MSRP) if available, or if it should default to the regular Price when a Sale Price is present. Themes like Cornerstone, Supermarket, or Fortune, while popular, can still have subtle differences in their default behaviors or customization options.

Inspecting Your Storefront for Clues

If theme settings don't provide a clear answer, a practical approach is to inspect your live storefront. Find a product where you know the values for Price, Retail Price (MSRP), and Sale Price. Then, use your browser's developer tools (right-click and "Inspect" or "Inspect Element") to examine the HTML structure around the "Was" and "Now" prices. This can sometimes reveal which data attributes or classes are being used, offering hints about the underlying theme logic.

Advanced Scenarios and Big Migration's Perspective

For businesses with complex pricing strategies, large catalogs, or those undergoing a platform migration, managing "Was" and "Now" pricing can become even more intricate. This is where Big Migration's expertise truly shines.

Programmatic Pricing and APIs

For merchants needing to update thousands of product prices simultaneously, manually editing each product is unfeasible. BigCommerce's powerful Catalog API allows for programmatic updates to Price, Retail Price (MSRP), and Sale Price. This is particularly valuable during migrations from platforms like Magento, Shopify Plus, or custom systems, where ensuring accurate transfer and display of all pricing tiers is critical.

Product Variants and Options

Remember that pricing can also vary by product variant (e.g., different sizes or colors). Each variant can have its own Price and Sale Price, which adds another layer of complexity to how "Was" and "Now" are displayed. Your theme must be robust enough to handle these variant-specific price changes dynamically.

Custom Fields and Apps

While less common for standard "Was/Now" displays, some highly customized BigCommerce stores might leverage custom fields or third-party pricing apps to introduce more complex pricing logic or display rules. If your store uses such solutions, their configurations will also influence the final output.

Troubleshooting Your 'Was' and 'Now' Pricing Display

If your "Was" and "Now" prices aren't displaying as expected, follow these steps:

1. Verify Product Pricing Fields: Double-check the Price, Retail Price (MSRP), and Sale Price for the affected product in your BigCommerce admin. Ensure they are populated correctly according to your desired display logic.
2. Examine Theme Settings: Go to Storefront → My Themes → Customize and explore any pricing-related options within your theme's settings.
3. Test with a Different Theme (Staging): If possible, preview your store with a default BigCommerce theme like Cornerstone on a staging environment. This can help isolate whether the issue is with your custom theme or the product data itself.
4. Consult Theme Documentation: Your theme's documentation often contains specific instructions on how it handles pricing displays.
5. Reach Out for Expert Help: If you're still stuck, contact your theme developer or BigCommerce support. For complex scenarios, especially during or after a migration, the Big Migration team is equipped to diagnose and resolve these issues, ensuring your pricing is always accurate and optimized for conversion.

Conclusion: Clarity Drives Conversions

Accurately displaying "Was" and "Now" prices is more than just a visual detail; it's a powerful psychological trigger that encourages purchases. By understanding the core pricing fields and the pivotal role your BigCommerce theme plays, you can take full control of your promotional messaging.

Whether you're setting up your first sale, optimizing an existing store, or embarking on a comprehensive e-commerce migration, ensuring your pricing is clear and correct is paramount. At Big Migration, we specialize in making these transitions smooth and ensuring every detail, including your critical pricing displays, is perfectly aligned with your business goals. Don't let pricing confusion cost you sales – empower your promotions with precision.