Price Types & Calculation

Magento has multiple layers of pricing calculation depending on where the price is displayed.

Product Page Price (Before Cart)

• Base Price: The price attribute value.
• Special Pricing: Temporary discount set on product (date range optional).
• Catalog Rules: Rule-based discounts from indexed catalogrule_product_price table.

Shopping Cart Price (After Quantity Determined)

Once a product is added to cart with a specific quantity, additional pricing applies:

• Tiered Pricing: Volume discounts based on quantity, customer group, and website.
• Options Price: Price added by custom options (e.g., engraving, gift wrap).
• Tax / VAT: Applied depending on tax configuration and checkout stage.
• Shopping Cart Rules: Promotional discounts applied in cart (e.g., "10% off cart total").

The primary price calculation for product pages happens in the Price model.

Calculation Sequence (Product Page)

1. Base Price: Start with price attribute or existing calculated price.
2. Special Pricing: Apply if special_price is set and within date range.
3. Catalog Rules: Apply lowest applicable rule price from catalogrule_product_price table.

// Simplified flow in calculatePrice()
$price = $product->getPrice(); // Base price

// Apply special price if applicable
if ($specialPrice && $specialPrice < $price) {
    $price = $specialPrice;
}

// Apply catalog rule price if lower
if ($rulePrice && $rulePrice < $price) {
    $price = $rulePrice;
}

return $price;

To identify what composes a product's final price:

1. Check Base Price: Product's price attribute.
2. Check Special Price: special_price attribute and date range (special_from_date, special_to_date).
3. Check Catalog Rules: Query catalogrule_product_price for active rules matching product/customer group.
4. Check Tiered Pricing: Product's tier price table for quantity/customer group.
5. Debug: Set breakpoint in calculatePrice() and step through.

Two approaches to customize price calculation:

1. Plugins (Preferred): Use after plugin on calculatePrice().
2. Preference: Replace entire price calculation class (more invasive).

di.xml:

<type name="Magento\Catalog\Model\Product\Type\Price">
    <plugin name="vendor_module_custom_price" 
            type="Vendor\Module\Plugin\Product\Type\Price" 
            sortOrder="10" />
</type>

Plugin Class:

namespace Vendor\Module\Plugin\Product\Type;

class Price
{
    public function afterCalculatePrice(
        \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product\Type\Price $subject,
        $result,
        $product,
        $qty = null
    ) {
        // Apply custom logic
        // Example: Add 10% markup
        return $result * 1.10;
    }
}

Price rendering is configured via layout XML and uses dedicated renderer blocks.

A block named product.price.render.default is created in default.xml.

You can use this block to render pricing elsewhere in the application.

Example from Downloadable Product:

<referenceBlock name="product.price.render.default">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="price_render" xsi:type="string">product.price.render.default</argument>
        <argument name="price_type_code" xsi:type="string">final_price</argument>
    </arguments>
</referenceBlock>

Templates for price renderers are located in:

Key Templates

• price/final_price.phtml
• price/tier_prices.phtml
• price/special_price.phtml
• price/minimal_price.phtml

Magento also provides a JS UI component to render prices dynamically.

See: Render Prices on the Frontend

Use Cases

• Dynamic price updates (e.g., when selecting configurable options)
• AJAX-loaded prices
• Custom price displays

To render price in a custom location:

1. In Layout XML:

   <block class="Magento\Framework\Pricing\Render" name="custom.price.render">
       <arguments>
           <argument name="price_render_handle" xsi:type="string">catalog_product_prices</argument>
       </arguments>
   </block>

2. In Template (.phtml):

   <?php
   /** @var \Magento\Catalog\Block\Product\AbstractProduct $block */
   $product = $block->getProduct();
   ?>
   
   <?= $block->getLayout()
       ->getBlock('product.price.render.default')
       ->render(
           'final_price',
           $product,
           [
               'include_container' => true,
               'display_minimal_price' => true,
               'zone' => \Magento\Framework\Pricing\Render::ZONE_ITEM_LIST
           ]
       ); ?>

To modify how price is rendered:

1. Override Templates: Copy template to your theme and modify.
2. Custom Renderer: Create custom price renderer class extending \Magento\Framework\Pricing\Render\AbstractRenderer.
3. Layout XML: Update catalog_product_prices.xml to use your renderer.
4. CSS/JS: Style via CSS or add dynamic behavior with JS.

• Render Prices on the Frontend
• Tier Prices
• Special Prices
• Price Adjustments