4 Ways to Always Be Selling with Pre-Orders

When a customer sees that something is out of stock, they usually see themselves out. Most people will immediately check with a competitor — and that’s it. You lost the sale and a customer.

By allowing you to sell stock before it’s arrived at the warehouse, pre-orders help you keep both. But how?

We’ve outlined four ways you can always be selling with pre-orders:

• Turn pre-orders into hype-worthy launches
• Don’t let “coming soon” kill your momentum
• Let pre-order data shape your buys
• Put products on pre-order as early as possible

Turn pre-orders into hype-worthy launches

Many brands focus their promotional efforts on what’s already in stock. That’s a missed opportunity. Pre-orders let you capitalize on excitement — and the more customers know something is coming, the more opportunities you have to sell it. Our data shows that customers don’t mind waiting. In some cases, waiting can signal a sense of exclusivity. One premium eBike brand found that customers were 18.5% more likely to convert on pre-order than when the item was in stock.

Purple Dot’s recommendation: Treat pre-orders like a product drop and promote them with the same energy as in-stock launches.

Customers are just as excited to pre-order products — if not more. In fact, the average customer satisfaction score for Purple Dot’s pre-order merchants is 84%, compared with the industry average of 78%. That shows how much customers value being first in line.

Don’t let “coming soon” kill your momentum

Customers can buy what’s sold out if you put the product on a Notify Me list. But will they? That’s another question. By the time the item is available again, the customer may have already found it elsewhere. ECR Retail Loss found that 37% of customers will seek out another brand if something is out of stock. The fact that abandoned carts outperform back in stock emails says a lot. Most customers lose interest altogether.

‍Purple Dot’s recommendation: Replace Notify Me with pre-orders to capture demand, not lose it.

Pre-orders let you strike while the iron is hot and capitalize on a customer’s intent to buy. Our data shows they convert 10x better than Notify Me.

Let pre-order data shape your buys

One of the top benefits of pre-orders is that they allow you to understand and capture demand. Rather than relying on last year’s sales, pre-order data gives you valuable signals long before launch day. That lets you test before you invest. You can see what’s resonating with customers before placing bulk purchase orders, proactively reupping the sizes, colors and styles that are moving most.

‍Purple Dot’s recommendation: Use your pre-order data to order smarter before stock hits, letting your pre-orders shape your purchase orders.‍

Understanding what’s selling well helps you sell more. That data also provides valuable intel for future purchase orders, helping you avoid being part of the $562 billion overstock problem.

Put products on pre-order as early as possible

Say a product is selling well and you already know you’re going to reorder. The only problem is, you’re not 100% sure when it’s coming in. With pre-orders, that’s not actually a problem because you can capture demand you would have otherwise missed. When you create a waitlist or upload one to Purple Dot, you can put estimated shipping dates. You can keep selling and then adjust the dates when you have a better sense of when stock will arrive.

‍Purple Dot’s recommendation: As soon as you know you’re reordering items, put them on pre-order, rather than waiting for date certainty… and losing sales.‍

‍Customers can’t buy what’s marked “sold out.” Any inventory you’re going to reorder should have a waitlist. That way, it can always be sold, even if it’ll be shipped later. 

How Purple Dot helps you manage out of stocks

Within an eCommerce brand, the merchandise team focuses on launches. Operations teams handle restocks. Pre-orders help them both.

‍What many brands don’t realize is, they work the same way. Once your purchase order is confirmed, all you have to do is upload it to Purple Dot.

Our platform takes it from there. No more manually creating waitlists or losing sales to “sold out” while stock is in transit. AI matches SKUs to your store and makes items available for pre-order while the available inventory is 0.

You can upload a purchase order or a spreadsheet to the Purple Dot platform. The output is the same. Our latest feature makes it easier than ever to go from “ordered” to “pre-selling.”

Interested in learning more about PO upload or other ways pre-orders can benefit your brand? Get in touch at hello@getpurpledot.com.

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