4 PreOrder Examples to Inspire Your Holiday Season
For most businesses, the holiday season is the perfect time to bombard consumers with ads and commercials, all vying for their attention and hard-earned dollars. With so much noise and competition, it can be difficult for your business to stand out from the crowd.
So, how can you make sure your company’s message is heard loud and clear? One way to do this and get a head start on the holiday rush is by harnessing the power of pre-orders.
By offering exclusive deals and early access to your products, you can build excitement and generate buzz about and interest in your products and services. And while preorders have traditionally been used for big-ticket items like electronics and appliances, there’s no reason you can’t use them to boost sales of smaller items.
And to help get you started, we’ve put together four pre-order examples that will inspire your holiday marketing strategy. Use them to get creative and develop your ideas for how preorders can work for your business.
What is a Pre-Order Strategy?
Before we delve into our examples, let’s quickly review what a pre-order is and how it works.
A pre-order is an advance order for a product or service that’s not yet available. With a pre-order strategy, you allow your customers to place orders for items that are out of stock or yet to be released. You ship the items to customers once they are available.
Whether you plan to launch a product soon or it’s out of stock, having pre-order buttons on your site assures customers that they will be the first to get it once it becomes available. Most customers find pre-orders attractive because they are sure they can bag your product before you avail it to the public.
The important thing is that you make it clear to your customers how your pre-order system works so there are no surprises or misunderstandings.
The Benefits of a Pre-Order Strategy?
A pre-order strategy will deliver more to your business than just getting people excited about an upcoming product release. When done correctly, pre-orders can also provide several other benefits for your business, including:
Increased Sales
With the prevalence of e-commerce, consumers have more options when shopping for products and services. They can access any product, from electronics and high-end fashion to groceries and books, with just a few clicks.
While this is good news for customers, it means fierce competition for retailers. They must work much harder to get their products in front of shoppers. If customers visit your website and your products are unavailable or out-of-stock, they will go elsewhere.
You will have an edge as it will be easier to lock in more sales, regardless of whether your product is ready for shipping or not. Every time your customers are willing to buy from you, you will be ready to sell to them, even when you can’t ship immediately.
Early Feedback on Products
When you allow customers to pre-order products, you can use that as an opportunity to get feedback on the product before it’s released. This is especially important for new products or products that have undergone significant changes or improvements.
Getting feedback early on can make any necessary tweaks or adjustments before the product goes to market. This can help ensure that your product is well-received by customers and avoid any potential issues that could damage your reputation or sales.
Improved Cash Flow
Allowing pre-orders can also help improve your business’s cash flow. This is because you collect payment upfront from customers, which you can use to cover the cost of manufacturing or sourcing the product.
This can be a big help for businesses that have tight margins or are cash-strapped. In addition, improved cash flow can also help you take advantage of early payment discounts from suppliers, which can further improve your margins.
Four Examples of Businesses That Are Doing Pre-Orders Right
As the holiday season approaches, some businesses have already started to release their pre-order buttons and badges. As you will see, pre-orders aren’t a thing for only big businesses. Small businesses are also shining in this eCommerce trend.
Here are our top picks:
Mr & Mrs. Hill Lighting
Mr & Mrs. Hill Lighting is one of Australia’s most renowned home decorative and lighting brands. The brand is currently running a pre-order campaign for its Gold Leaf Fairy Lights. Customers can choose from various designs and get them delivered in time for the holidays.
What we like about this pre-order campaign is that it’s simple and to the point. The focus is on the product and the date when shipping starts, two aspects customers care about most.
The product description is also short and sweet, which helps highlight the main features without getting too wordy. From the short description, customers know the length of the lights, how they are powered, the packaging details, and the best place to place them in their homes. Also, the upfront and clear pricing help build trust with potential customers.
Mr & Mrs. Hill Lighting creates a sense of urgency in its pre-order strategy by indicating the number of products remaining. Customers are more likely to place their orders if they think the product is in limited supply.
Hendeer
This Australian lifestyle brand creates stylish pieces that combine fashion and functionality. Hendeer has an ongoing pre-order strategy for its Tote bags.
One thing that makes Hendeer stand out as a brand with a perfect pre-order strategy is clarity on when shipping will begin and a promise to keep customers informed via email. Customers who pre-order products feel more comfortable knowing when their purchase will be shipped.
Hendeer also offers customers a flexible payment plan. They can pay $35 for the bags once or in four installments of $8.75 every two weeks. This payment plan helps increase conversions as it makes the products more affordable.
The brand also gives customers a detailed product description, which helps build trust and confidence. Customers know exactly what they are getting, including the dimensions, materials used, care instructions, and shipping details. Hendeer’s pre-order strategy is customer-centric and aims to make the purchase process as seamless as possible.
WildBird
Wildbird specializes in selling baby carriers and slings that support babies from the time they are born until they reach 35 lbs. Wildbird’s pre-order strategy encourages customers to back-order aerial carriers currently out of stock. Back ordering allows customers to place their orders and receive the products as soon as they are back in stock.
The highlight in this pre-order example is Wildbird’s focus on providing customers with all the details they need to make an informed decision. They can choose their favorite color and size.
These options are vital in helping Wildbird make inventory plans. They can use the data from the back orders to know how much stock to produce and the features to prioritize based on the size or the color with the highest demand.
Wildbird payment plan is flexible as customers who pre-order are required to make payments in four interest-free installments. With this plan, customers can pay for the carrier over time, which makes it more affordable. At the same time, Wildbird can use the payments to finance its production.
Pre-order customers will love the product description, including the weight limit, dimensions, materials used, and safety features. Including the return and exchange policy helps build trust as customers know they can return the product if it doesn’t meet their expectations.
ABC Bikes
ABC Bikes is an Australian bike shop that positions itself as the headquarters for all types of bikes, including road, mountain, and kids’ bikes. Other than bikes, this brand also sells bike parts, accessories, clothing, and nutritional products that bikers would need.
With such a product portfolio, you would expect ABC Bikes to have a complex pre-order strategy. However, they keep it relatively simple by running a pre-order campaign for their new products and restocking existing products that are about to go out of stock.
The brand makes it easy for customers to find the products they want by categorizing them according to type, price, and brand. Customers can also use the search bar to find products quickly.
The outstanding feature of ABC Bikes’ pre-order strategy is using number badges to show the current stock levels. For products that are about to go out of stock, a “low in stock” badge is displayed. This helps customers make quick decisions and encourages them to buy before the products run out of stock.
With the option to use Afterpay, customers can pay for their orders in installments without incurring any interest. This makes the products more affordable and gives ABC Bikes more capital to procure inventory.
Get Started With Preorders Today
A pre-order strategy is one of the best tools to help you smash your sales goals and get your products into the hands of your customers quickly. The above four examples prove that your e-commerce business doesn’t need to be big to implement a pre-order system, and they are all leveraging PreOrder Now on Shopify.
If you’re unsure how to start your pre-order strategy, you can start by using pre-order apps like Pre‑Order Now for your Shopify store. The app will allow customers to buy unavailable products by replacing out-of-stock with preorder badges and buttons. Add the app directly to your Shopify store and start recovering lost sales today.
