Rule scheduling allows you to automatically enable and disable merchandising rules based on time windows. This eliminates manual intervention for time-based promotions and seasonal merchandising.
How scheduling works
When you configure a schedule for a rule, you set:
- Start date and time: When the rule should automatically enable
- End date and time (optional): When the rule should automatically disable
A background job runs every minute to evaluate all scheduled rules and update their enabled status based on the current time.
Scheduling behavior:
- Rules with a start time in the past and no end time (or end time in the future) are automatically enabled
- Rules with an end time in the past are automatically disabled
- Rules with a start time in the future remain disabled until that time arrives
- If no end time is specified, the rule remains enabled indefinitely after the start time
Scheduled rules work independently of contextual conditions. A rule must pass both its schedule check and contextual conditions (if any) to be applied.
Use cases
Flash Sales: Schedule a rule to enable at the start of a flash sale and disable when it ends.
Seasonal Campaigns: Set up holiday merchandising weeks in advance that automatically activate on the campaign start date.
Product Launches: Schedule merchandising for new product releases to go live at a specific time.
Time-Zone Specific Promotions: Combine scheduling with geographic conditions to run promotions at specific times in different regions.
Combining scheduling with contextual conditions
You can use both scheduling and contextual conditions on the same rule for powerful targeting:
Example: A Black Friday rule that only applies to US visitors and automatically enables on Black Friday morning and disables on Monday morning.
Schedule: 2024-11-29 00:00:00 to 2024-12-02 00:00:00
Contextual Condition: geo.country == "US"
See also
