Assessment 2 — Beat the Shopping Cart

A constrained shopping scenario with thresholds, coupons, exclusions and bundles. Find the best plan without buying extra things just to chase a discount.

Due: 25 September 2026 · Weight: 30%

The brief#

Given a shopping cart, several discount rules, and a fixed list of needed items, find the best way to buy them.

You’ll be given (or will construct, if working from a real storefront) a scenario containing several of: a spend threshold, a percentage coupon with exclusions, a bundle offer, a free-shipping cutoff, and a loyalty-points rate. Work out the true cost of at least three possible strategies for getting the needed items, including the “obvious” one a shopper would try first.

The scenario is built so that at least one strategy that looks like a bigger discount is actually a worse outcome once you account for items bought only to satisfy a threshold. Buying something you didn’t need, purely to unlock a bigger advertised discount, should not be counted as “saving money” unless you can show the item had real value to you independent of the coupon.

This assessment applies Week 4’s if-this-then-that rule thinking to a cart you have to solve yourself.

Scenario packet#

Your scenario, whether supplied or self-constructed, must be written as a rule sheet before you solve it. It should contain:

• a fixed list of needed items and their prices
• at least one optional add-on that could help satisfy a threshold
• a threshold discount, such as “$30 off orders over $260”
• at least one exclusion, such as “coupon does not apply to sale items”
• one more complication: bundle pricing, free-shipping cutoff, loyalty points, or non-stacking coupons
• a statement of which optional items have real value to the buyer, and how much

If you use a real storefront, cite it. If you invent a scenario, label it hypothetical and make the numbers consistent with each other.

Required model#

Compare at least three strategies in the same table or script:

• the obvious cart a hurried shopper would try first
• the cheapest cart that satisfies the headline discount
• one alternative that refuses a tempting discount because the true cost is worse

For each strategy, show item subtotal, excluded subtotal, discount applied, shipping or points value if relevant, unwanted add-on cost, and final true cost. A strategy that buys an unwanted item should count the wasted part as cost, even if the checkout total is lower.

What you submit#

Either a written strategy comparison (tables are fine) or a small script that computes true cost from the rules. Either format is acceptable; the mark is for the reasoning, not for choosing code over writing. State your final recommended strategy and the true cost it produces.

Include a short note explaining why the losing strategies lose. The goal is not only to name the cheapest cart; it is to show which rule made the advertised bargain stop being a bargain.

What strong work looks like#

Strong work makes each rule usable: the reader can see the input, the condition, and the result. It notices ordering questions, such as whether a coupon applies before or after sale-item exclusions. The final recommendation should still make sense if the sale badges are hidden and only your cost table remains.

Common traps#

• applying a percentage discount to the whole cart when exclusions remove part of it
• counting loyalty points at face value when redemption is restricted
• adding an item to clear a threshold, then treating that item as free
• comparing strategies with different assumptions
• choosing the cart with the largest discount instead of the lowest true cost