2026 Promotional Benchmark Report

1,365 U.S. consumers. Eight categories.

This report answers the two questions that decide promo profitability: which offer structure converts, and how deep the discount has to be. The answers split hard. Percentage-off leads in seven of eight categories, but BOGO beats it in Food & Beverage. Home Goods is the only category where 30%, not 20%, is the most common threshold. Accessories, Beauty, and Pet Care pull toward free shipping and free gifts, which means depth is not your only lever.

Treat it as a diagnostic. Take your last four promotions, hold them against your category benchmark, and the pattern shows up fast: too shallow to convert, too deep to profit, or the wrong mechanic from the start.