October 24, 2024
Pre-order product launches have become more popular during this challenging economic climate. Many eCommerce brands are now looking to secure cash flow earlier to invest in other business aspects such as marketing and new product development sooner. Even more are looking to gauge customer interest before committing to large inventory to reduce the risk of overstocking or investing in new products that won’t sell well.
Not all products are suited for pre-orders though. Even if they are suitable, timing your launch is crucial to your sales. In this blog post, let’s go through a few things you need to consider before running pre-orders for your product launch on Shopify.
There are certain categories where their products are more suitable for running pre-orders. If you’re selling electronics, furniture, collectibles, and micro-mobility products (e.g. bikes, scooters, skateboard), your customers are more likely to have patience for longer lead times as it’s often the norm across the board.
Others categories such as apparel, beauty and books, depending on the seasonality and demand, can also usually be marketed through pre-orders as customers want to secure their products in advance.
If you're selling custom made-to-order items, bulk pre-orders can help you reduce material costs and plan your production schedules more effectively.
Founder-led brands often enjoy stronger social capital. Their customers want to support the founders and their vision, so they’re more willing to pre-order items even if it means longer wait times. Brands like POPFlex, Em Cosmetics, Beardbrand and Front Office Co are good examples that you can refer to for inspiration.
If this is the case for you, you should consider launching pre-orders early on to secure cash flow sooner. Want more reassurance before launching pre-orders? You can engage with your customers through social media polls or email surveys to gauge interest in upcoming products. This will help you gather some leading indicators to support your decision.
Generally, you want to open up pre-orders when your products are on their way to your warehouse (e.g. ETA 2-3 weeks) to avoid testing your customers’ patience. Until then, you can capture back-in-stock notification sign-ups (emails or mobile numbers) as expressions of interest.
That said, money is what truly validates demand. You should experiment capturing partial deposits as commitments to buy while the products are still in production (e.g. ETA >4 weeks). See if your customers are happy to show commitment by voting with their wallets.
Offering partial deposits for your pre-orders will make your products more accessible to customers. If you’re selling high-ticket items, you should definitely consider this payment option.
Capturing partial deposits without an app isn’t straightforward, but it’s possible with manual workarounds, custom checkout instructions or creating draft orders.
When you run pre-order campaigns via our Early Bird app, you can offer customers the following payment options:
Early Bird will then automatically track payment statuses and capture the remaining balance for you via the pre-order campaign reporting dashboard.
The benefits? Increased conversion rates and reduced cart abandonment as your customers could feel more comfortable committing to purchases. You’d save on the hefty commission fees charged by Buy Now Pay Later services too.
Keep in mind while payment options offer your customers flexibility and accessibility to pre-order your products, your Pricing and Offer plays an even bigger role in converting website visits into sales.
Be sure to invest time into researching a price point that is profitable to your business but also one that would attract your customers to pre-order.
We’ve spoken to more than 100 small eCommerce business owners throughout this year. The number one reason many are hesitant to offer pre-orders is because they want to avoid pre-order cancellations and customer complaints when there are inevitable shipment delays.
It’s all about communicating clearly with your customers to set clear expectations upfront. Simply changing your "Add to Cart" button to "Pre-order Now" and adding the pre-order info to your product descriptions aren’t enough.
Take a holistic view of your customer purchase journey. Make sure your customers are aware they are placing a pre-order by prominently displaying the information throughout their purchase journey, from the moment they arrive on your product page until post-purchase.
Don’t forget to include the pre-order info in your store policies and reassure them that they have the right to cancel or request a refund for their pre-orders under certain conditions.
When a customer adds both in-stock and pre-order items to their cart, you can utilize Shopify's new Split Shipping in Checkout feature. This allows customers to choose whether they want to pay for shipping twice to receive the in-stock item sooner, or wait until the pre-order item arrives at the warehouse for combined shipping.
(You’d simply choose “Hold fulfilment” on your customer’s order page then release it once all your items are ready for shipping.)
It’s important that you provide the estimated delivery dates for both in-stock and pre-order items, and ensure that any additional shipping fees associated with split shipping are clearly communicated to avoid confusion.
Don’t assume your customers will visit the pre-order product page to check for the latest ETA. Proactively inform them whenever you have an update. Customers will appreciate your transparency.
If you don’t have the time to send dedicated email updates for your pre-orders, you can simply include the shipping status of pre-order items in your general email newsletters or social media content. This way, customers who have placed a pre-order can stay updated on the latest delivery dates or production status, while those who haven’t placed a pre-order yet will have the opportunity to convert.
A pre-order product launch requires thoughtful planning and clear communication with your customers. By considering the timing of your launch, the pricing and payment options you offer, and proactively keeping them informed, you’ll more likely have a successful pre-order product launch.
If you have any additional thoughts or experiences regarding pre-orders that could help fellow merchants, we’d love to hear from you and credit you in our blog post.
