How to add a countdown timer to Shopify without a popup

Before you add a timer

• Count down to a real deadline. The timer should end when the discount ends in Shopify, to the minute. If the sale runs on after zero, the timer was wrong.
• Never let it restart. A timer that starts over for each visitor, or on every reload, is a fake deadline. The US Federal Trade Commission names the baseless countdown timer as a deceptive design pattern in its report Bringing Dark Patterns to Light.
• Use one time zone. Your discount’s end date, your emails and the timer should all read the same clock, normally your store’s.
• Decide what happens at zero. Hide the timer, or replace it with a line like “The sale has ended”. A timer stuck on zeros for days looks abandoned.
• One timer per page. Two deadlines on one screen make shoppers wonder which one is true.

Three ways to add a countdown to Shopify

1. Your theme’s own section

Some themes come with a countdown or timer section. To check yours, open Online Store → Themes → Customize, click Add section (or Add block), and search for “countdown” or “timer”.

It costs nothing and it’s on screen as soon as a shopper lands. But it sits in the page where you placed it, you set its end date by hand, and it doesn’t know when your discount ends.

2. A countdown bar or popup app

Apps can add a timer bar across the top of every page, or a popup with a timer in it. A bar either pushes the page down or sits over it; a popup covers what the shopper came to see until they close it. Both are hard to miss, which is the point and the cost.

3. Inside a drawer shoppers open

The timer sits in a slide-out drawer with the rest of your offers: the sale, the code, the products. A button waits at the edge of every page, and nothing covers the page until a shopper taps it. This is how PromoDrawer works.

The trade: shoppers see the timer when they open the drawer, not the moment they land. If you need a deadline on screen the instant someone arrives, a theme section is the better fit, and the two work well together.

	Theme section	Bar or popup app	In a drawer
Covers the page	No	A popup does; a bar can	No
Seen on arrival	Where you place it	Yes	When the drawer opens
Ends with the sale	Set by hand	Depends on the app	Can follow the drawer’s schedule
Code beside it	Typed into the text	Depends on the app	A code card shoppers apply in one tap

Add a countdown with PromoDrawer

Install PromoDrawer from the Shopify App Store and turn on its app embed in your theme editor; Getting started walks through both. Then:

1. Add a countdown card to a drawer and pick a layout. There are four: Boxes (soft, solid or outline), One line, Big clock, and End date, which shows the date and can turn into the timer on its last day. Seconds are optional.
2. Choose what it counts down to. A date you set; when the schedule ends, so the timer and the sale end together; or a time every day or every weekday, like “Order by 2 PM for same-day shipping”. A daily cutoff is the same real time for every shopper, never a timer that restarts.
3. Decide what happens at zero. The card can hide, show zeros, or show a message you write.
4. Put the code beside the timer. Add a discount code card to the same drawer. Shoppers tap Apply and the code is on their cart, so the deadline and the way to use it sit together. See How to auto-apply a discount code on Shopify.
5. Show it on the right pages and dates. Give the drawer a start and an end, and choose its page types, URLs or devices. See Targeting and scheduling.
6. Check your store’s time zone. Countdowns and schedules use your store’s time zone, in Shopify’s Settings → General, unless you set the countdown to the shopper’s.

Or ask Shopify’s Sidekick: “Make me a summer sale drawer with 15% off using SUMMER15, and a countdown to Sunday.” It builds the drawer for you to review and save. See Sidekick.

The countdown card, discount code card, schedules and page targeting are on Basic and Pro, each with a 30-day free trial. The Free plan has announcement, image and follow cards on your home page.

Where a countdown earns its place

• The end of a sale. Count down to the end of the drawer’s schedule, so you set the date once.
• A daily shipping cutoff. “Order by 2 PM for same-day shipping”, every weekday, with no date to update.
• Holiday shipping deadlines. The last day to order for delivery before a holiday. The Black Friday checklist has the rest of the season’s steps.
• A launch. Count down to the day a product or collection goes live.

Questions merchants ask

Will a countdown timer slow down my store?

Any app adds some code to your pages. PromoDrawer’s script and stylesheet load after your page, and each card type is its own small file, so a drawer without a countdown loads no countdown code. See Speed and your storefront.

Can the timer reset for each visitor?

Not in PromoDrawer. Every option counts to a real moment: a date, the end of a schedule, or a daily cutoff that’s the same for everyone.

What happens when the timer reaches zero?

You choose: the card hides, shows zeros, or shows your own message. When the countdown follows the drawer’s schedule, the drawer ends at the same moment.

Can I show the countdown only on some pages?

Yes. On Basic and Pro, a drawer can show on chosen page types, URLs or devices, so the timer appears only where the offer applies.