What is a Preorder?
A preorder allows customers to purchase products before they are officially available in stock.
This is ideal for new product launches, limited-edition items, or upcoming restocks where merchants want to gauge demand before production or release.
Use Cases for Preorders
- Product Launches: Selling items before their official release to build excitement and secure early sales.
- Custom-Made or Limited Edition Items: Allowing customers to place orders in advance for exclusive or made-to-order products.
- Seasonal Stock: Accepting preorders for holiday or seasonal inventory before availability.
- Crowdfunding Campaigns: Selling products in advance to fund production costs.
When to Choose Preorder?
- You have a fixed launch date for the product.
- You want to generate demand before production.
- You plan to manufacture based on orders received.
Inventory Settings for Preorder
For preorders to work, either one of the following inventory settings must be met.
i) Track quantity disabled
When track quantity is disabled, you can offer unlimited preorders.
Say you're selling a digital course or e-book. No physical stock is involved, and therefore, quantity tracking isn’t needed. Still, you can continue taking preorders indefinitely.
ii) Track quantity and “Continue selling when out of stock” are enabled
When 'Track quantity' and 'Continue selling when out of stock' are enabled, you can offer unlimited preorders.
Say you're launching a new sneaker. Regardless of the stock quantity (0 or positive), you can continue taking preorders since both settings are enabled.
iii) Track quantity is enabled, but “Continue selling when out of stock” is disabled
When 'Track quantity' is enabled, but 'Continue selling when out of stock' is disabled, preorders are only available while inventory is still positive. Once stock reaches zero, the product is marked as Sold Out, even if the preorder limit hasn’t been reached.
Say you're selling a limited edition product as a preorder, and inventory is set to 500 units. Preorders automatically stop and switch to 'Sold Out' once stock runs out.
For further support, we offer free setup assistance via chat or Zoom.