Coupons in LS Central: setup and redemption at the POS

Loyalty & offers · 7 min read

Coupons look like the simplest promotion in LS Central — scan a piece of paper, money comes off. The complexity is underneath: the same scan can post as a payment owed to the store by a manufacturer, or as a discount that comes straight out of the store's own margin, depending on one setup decision. Get that decision right first, and the rest of coupon setup — issuer, header, barcode mask — follows cleanly. This guide covers all three coupon types, the redemption behaviour at the till, and the serial-coupon controls that make a coupon single-use.

The three coupon types, and why handling comes first

The handling distinction is the economics. A manufacturer coupon does not affect the profit of the sold item: once accepted, the manufacturer owes the store the coupon amount, and the coupon is handled as a tender — money in, like cash. A store coupon is handled as a discount and does affect store profit, because the store is funding it. The setup reflects this in the Handling field: Tender if the coupon should behave as payment and leave item profit alone, Discount for store coupons. Deciding who funds the coupon before touching setup is the whole decision framework here — every later reporting argument traces back to this field.

Setup procedure

1. Set up the Coupon Issuer. The issuer register is where accepted coupon issuers are recorded, so coupons can be traced back to who issued them. Each manufacturer you accept coupons from must be set up using the EAN number used in the manufacturer's coupon barcode. Issuer information can be used for invoicing coupon issuers, and an issuer can be blocked if its coupons should no longer be accepted. Defaults set on the issuer are copied to coupons created for it. For a store coupon, the issuer is the store itself.
2. Create the Coupon Header. The header holds the coupon's type, issuer, and other defining information. For a return coupon, the header Type is Return Coupon and No. of Items to Trigger is 0.
3. Define the Coupon Lines. The lines define which items or groups the coupon applies to. No. of Items to Trigger defines how many items a coupon needs to be valid — one qualifying item in the documented example.
4. Set the discount and handling. The discount can be a discount amount or a percentage. Note the override rule: if a Discount Value is filled in, any discount information carried in the barcode itself is overlooked — the header wins over the printed barcode values.
5. Set the scan timing (Affects). Any Item Line: the coupon can be scanned any time after the item that triggers the discount. Last Item Line: it must be scanned directly after that item. Next Item Line: it must be scanned before that item. Pick Any Item Line unless the promotion genuinely needs tighter sequencing — the strict options are cashier-error generators.
6. Define the validation period for the coupon, so expired paper stops working on a date rather than by argument at the till.
7. Set up the Barcode Mask. To identify coupons on the POS, a barcode mask is required. The mask is a combination of a prefix, the coupon issuer's EAN number, the Coupon Reference No., the price or discount, and a check digit. When a coupon is scanned, the POS recognises it as a coupon barcode and finds the coupon setup by looking it up through the mask — issuer segment and reference number are how the right header is found.
8. For manufacturer coupons, define the Coupon Tender type. Without it, manufacturer coupons cannot be accepted at the POS as payment.

Return coupons: issued at the till, on purpose

Return coupons exist for one reason: to encourage the customer to come back. They are issued at the POS, only at the end of a sale, and are issued with a Discount % of Total sale. The return coupon is issued if an item in the Issue Restriction lines is sold — those lines, on the Return Coupon card's General FastTab, list the items that issue return coupons. Its value is either a certain amount or a percentage.

On the Issuing side of the setup: select the Issue at POS checkbox. If a Loyalty Scheme is defined, only transactions for customers with that scheme get the coupon — leave it empty for an everyone-gets-one bounce-back. Discount % of Total calculates the issued coupon's value, Rounding Method controls how that calculated value is rounded, Extra Print Setup controls printing, and the Barcode Mask generates the barcode printed on the issued coupon. When that coupon comes back, it will affect any item when scanned at the POS.

Redeeming at the POS

Redemption is deliberately undramatic. When setup is complete, the POS instantly starts to accept coupons with no further settings needed. Coupons can be scanned at any time during a transaction and will trigger according to the setup — subject to the Affects timing chosen for that coupon. If scanning is not an option, add a button to the POS with the POS command COUPON: it lets the cashier enter the barcode number or the coupon code manually.

Posting then follows the handling set at setup. A manufacturer coupon posts as a payment against the Coupon Tender type — the amount becomes a receivable from the issuer rather than a margin hit, which is why the issuer register exists for invoicing. Store and return coupons post as a discount, divided between the items in the transaction, so item-level margin reporting shows the cost spread across what was actually bought rather than parked on one line. Coupons also surface beyond the fixed till: on the Mobile POS, the offers and coupons for the account in use are shown, derived from the same LS Central tables.

Serial coupons and single use

A coupon handed to everyone is a discount. A coupon with a unique serial number is a tracked instrument. Serial coupons can be issued with a unique serial number and can thus only be used once — if Issue Validation is Apply to Entry, or the Coupon ID Method is Serial No. A specific coupon can also carry a validity period calculated from its date of issuing: for example, not valid until the day after issuing, and valid for one week. That not-valid-yet window is normally deliberate — it encourages the customer to come back on a later visit instead of splitting today's basket into two transactions.

Serial coupons can be awarded directly to customers, and their usage is then tracked, which gives traceability for marketing initiatives: who received it, who redeemed it, who never did. And a coupon does not have to be a simple discount — a coupon can be used as a discount, as a payment, or to trigger a more complex offer, which is how a printed coupon becomes the front door to a mix & match or another offer behind it.

What success looks like

• A test manufacturer coupon scans mid-transaction, tenders its amount, and the item's profit is unchanged; the amount sits against the Coupon Tender type.
• A test store coupon scans and posts as a discount divided across the transaction's items — visibly not as a payment.
• A sale containing an Issue Restriction item prints a return coupon at the end of the sale, valued from the Discount % of Total, with a barcode the POS accepts on a later transaction.
• A serial coupon redeems once; the second attempt does not discount again.
• The COUPON button accepts a keyed-in barcode number for a coupon whose printed barcode will not scan.

FAQ

The POS does not recognise a scanned coupon. Why? The recognition path is the barcode mask: if the mask does not match the printed barcode's structure — prefix, issuer EAN, reference number, check digit — the POS cannot find the coupon setup. Check the mask before reprinting coupons.

Can a coupon's value differ from what its barcode says? Yes. If a Discount Value is filled in on the setup, discount information in the barcode is overlooked. That is a feature for fixing a misprinted run without reprinting — and a surprise if someone filled the field in and forgot.

Disclaimer: coupon tax and issuer-reimbursement treatment varies by jurisdiction and by agreement with each issuer. This guide covers LS Central setup and posting behaviour only, not accounting or legal advice — confirm treatment with your accountant for your situation.