On May 7, 2026, Shopify shipped one of the most-requested merchant features of the year: the ability to assign any code-based or automatic discount to specific markets. No more workarounds, no more discount codes accidentally applying in the wrong country, no more wholesale offers leaking to retail.
This guide walks through exactly how it works, who can use it, and the limits Shopify itself documents — citing only the Shopify Changelog and Help Center. If a claim isn't in an official Shopify doc, it isn't in this post.
What changed on May 7, 2026
Shopify added a Markets eligibility option to the discount editor. From the Shopify Changelog:
"Use the new eligibility selector on the Discount Details page to assign your code-based or automatic discounts to one or more markets."
Two complementary UI improvements shipped alongside:
- Filters on the discounts list — sort discounts by market and customer segment to find the right offer fast.
- Market Details page now lists active discounts — preview every discount that targets a market via the View-As mode.
API support followed one day later, on May 8, 2026, in Admin GraphQL API version 2026-07. If your app is on an older version, market-targeted discounts will be filtered out of responses.
Who can use it
Per the Shopify Changelog, market-specific discounts are available to:
- Basic plan and above. No Shopify Plus requirement.
- Stores already on the new version of Markets. Older Markets stores need to upgrade first; Shopify documents the upgrade flow in the Help Center under manual/markets-new.
Discount types officially supported
Only two types are confirmed in Shopify's own docs at launch:
- Code-based discounts (the classic discount-code coupons)
- Automatic discounts (no code, apply at checkout)
Other types — Buy X Get Y, free shipping, app-based — are not explicitly listed by Shopify as supported for market eligibility at launch. We won't promise they work until Shopify documents it.
Step-by-step: assign a discount to one or more markets
Verbatim from Shopify Help Center → Managing discounts:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.
- Click the discount you want to edit.
- In the Eligibility section, select Markets.
- Select the markets you want the discount to apply to, then click Add.
- Click Save.
That's the entire flow. The discount now only applies when a customer's market matches one of the selected markets.
Three verified use cases
These three scenarios are explicitly named in the Shopify Changelog as the intended use cases:
1. Online-only flash sale that excludes retail
Run a 20% off promo on your online channels without it ever showing up at POS or in-store. Create your automatic discount, set Eligibility → Markets, and select only your online region markets — not your Retail location markets.
2. B2B wholesale-only discount
If you run a B2B catalog with company-location buyers, you can now assign a discount to B2B company-location markets only. Retail customers visiting your online store won't see or claim it. No parallel "B2B-only" discount code workaround needed.
3. Region-specific Black Friday pricing
Different countries, different prices, different promos. Create one discount per region market — 25% off for the United States market, 15% off for the United Kingdom market, 10% off for India. Each is its own discount; one customer only ever sees the offer for their market.
Limitations Shopify documents
A few important constraints, all from the Shopify Help Center and Developer Changelog:
- Markets and customer segments are mutually exclusive as eligibility types. A single discount can target one or the other, not both. If you need B2B customer segment AND only in the EU market, that's two discounts — or a Shopify Function.
- Submarkets inherit only within the same market type. Region submarkets inherit from a parent region market, but a region-type discount won't apply to a retail-type submarket sitting in the same hierarchy.
- API version 2026-07 minimum. Older app integrations will silently filter out market-eligibility data.
- Automatic discounts on POS require POS Pro. Standard POS doesn't support automatic discounts, so the retail-exclusion pattern above only behaves predictably when POS Pro is in the mix.
When you still need an app
The new native market eligibility is a great fit for flat promos: "20% off in market X" or "B2B-only coupon." Where it stops short:
- Tier-based volume discounts ("Buy 3 save 10%, Buy 5 save 20%") can't be combined with market eligibility in a single rule today. You'd run separate base discounts per market, but the tier logic still needs an app or a Shopify Function.
- Cross-eligibility (markets and customer segments together) needs custom Function logic.
- Granular per-channel display rules — the native UI is binary (eligible / not eligible), with no rules for hiding badges in one channel while keeping the discount active in another.
If you're running tier-based quantity discounts on top of market-specific base pricing, our app Volume Discount Xpert (free, built on Discount Functions, works on every Shopify plan) is designed to coexist with native market discounts without conflicting.
Sources
- Shopify Changelog — Assign discounts to specific markets
- Shopify Help Center — Managing discounts
- Shopify Help Center — Manage Markets
- Shopify Help Center — Sales channel discounts
- Shopify Developer Changelog
Related reads:
Xpertshire builds custom Shopify Functions, market-aware discount workflows, and headless storefronts. We also publish Volume Discount Xpert and Geo Redirect Xpert on the Shopify App Store.
