Scheduling a campaign
Start and end dates are optional and run on your store's timezone. Learn what a blank time means, when a campaign goes live, and the one date mistake to watch for.
Scheduling decides when a campaign runs. Both the start and the end are optional, and both are interpreted in your store's timezone, the single timezone set in your Shopify settings.
Start date and time
A start date is optional. Leave it blank and the campaign goes live the moment you publish. Set a date, and optionally a time, to schedule it: it shows as "scheduled" until then and turns itself on automatically. If you set a date but leave the time blank, the start time is the beginning of that day.
A start time in the past is allowed. It simply means "start now", so the campaign goes live immediately on publish.
End date and time
An end date sits behind a "Set an end date" option. If you set an end date but leave the time blank, the campaign ends at 23:59 in your store's timezone, so it runs through the whole final day. When the end passes, the campaign moves to "ended" automatically.
One timezone, one moment worldwide
Your store has a single timezone, and the end is one exact moment in time. Every shopper sees the campaign end at that same instant; someone in another timezone sees it end at the equivalent local time.
The builder guards your dates
An end at or before the start is blocked
The builder will not let you publish an end date that falls at or before the start date, with the message "The end must be after the start." A campaign whose end has already passed cannot be published either, so you can never publish a campaign that would never run.
Publishing and live-campaign limits
A published campaign is live only inside its scheduled window and only while your plan has room for another live campaign. Your plan limits how many campaigns can be live at once, which keeps you inside Shopify's store-wide ceiling for discount apps. See Stacking and combinations for how that ceiling is shared across every discount app.
A warning when your new campaign overlaps deals it cannot combine with
When you activate or resume a campaign (one at a time or in bulk) that runs at the same time as live discounts it is not set to combine with, the Campaigns page shows a warning naming the conflicting discounts, with a link to the Discounts screen. It covers Stackable, native Shopify, and other apps' discounts. The campaign still activates; the warning just tells you shoppers will get the better deal, not both. See "Two campaigns, only one applies" for what to do about it.