For fashion and lifestyle brands, the calendar never stops. Seasonal collections, new arrivals, and limited drops are constantly in motion, each bringing fresh opportunities to engage customers and drive sales.
According to McKinsey's State of Fashion 2026, faster trend cycles and unpredictable demand are putting additional pressure on fashion brands to manage inventory and protect margins.
But what if brands could offset some of that pressure by extending the selling window to start before inventory even arrives?
That's the thinking behind a Launch Early, Sell More pre-order strategy.
By opening sales while products are still in production or transit, brands can start generating revenue sooner, gain earlier insight into customer demand, and create more opportunities to sell at full price… all without having to overhaul their existing merchandising calendars.
And the opportunity goes beyond simply getting a head start on sales (although that’s a major perk!). An early launch also creates an additional marketing moment, giving brands an extra chance to build excitement around upcoming arrivals, offer loyal customers exclusive access, and generate momentum before products are even in stock.
More time to sell, more opportunities to engage customers, and greater potential to maximize revenue from every collection.
EXTEND THE SELLING WINDOW
Who says inventory arrival has to be the starting line for sales?
Fashion and lifestyle brand OAK + FORT and men's jewelry brand JAXXON have both challenged this common assumption by embracing a new approach: using pre-orders to launch collections earlier and begin generating sales before inventory arrives.
Brands with seasonal collections know that timing is everything. Customer interest in fall arrivals may begin building in August, even if inventory won't reach the warehouse until September. And with the next collection already on the calendar, every week spent waiting is one less week to sell at full price.
By launching products on pre-order while they're still in production or transit, brands can move their selling window forward, capture demand earlier, and give collections a longer runway to sell.
OAK + FORT initially tested pre-orders with its seasonal launches, and the results were compelling enough to make them a regular part of its launch strategy. Today, pre-orders account for approximately 25% of online sales. The brand has also reported a 20–25% year-over-year increase in e-commerce sales, with pre-orders playing an important role in that growth.
And there's another advantage to getting started early: the opportunity to create two distinct marketing moments. Brands can generate excitement and sales around an initial pre-order launch, then build on that momentum with another campaign when products become available to ship.
JAXXON put this approach into practice when introducing its new watch collection, turning the pre-order release into a launch moment of its own. The brand generated $100,000 in early sales in the first two days, building momentum before the watches officially launched. Those early sales also provided valuable insight into customer demand, helping JAXXON make smarter inventory decisions. Ultimately, the brand achieved 20% higher sales than previous new-line launches while reducing excess inventory by 50%.
Both stories are a powerful reminder that sometimes selling more starts with selling sooner.
MAKE EXCLUSIVITY A PART OF THE EXPERIENCE
Brands can take the idea of launching early a step further by making customer loyalty part of the experience. Rather than opening pre-orders to everyone at once, they can give their most loyal customers the first opportunity to shop an upcoming collection.
It's a compelling way to reward loyalty without relying on discounts. For customers, it means getting first access to something new, potentially weeks before its official launch, with the peace of mind that they won't miss out if it sells out. For brands, it means rewarding loyalty in a meaningful way, protecting margins, and generating revenue earlier in the launch cycle.
And that VIP pre-order window can become the first stage of a larger launch campaign, followed by a public pre-order release and then an in-stock announcement.
Each moment gives brands another reason to engage customers and bring attention (and dollars!) back to the collection.
CREATE MOMENTUM AROUND DROPS AND COLLABORATIONS
A highly anticipated collaboration can be a huge opportunity for a brand.
For brands like children's audio entertainment company tonies® and iconic watchmaker Timex, whose collaborations and limited-edition releases can generate significant excitement, timing is everything (no pun intended!).
Rather than waiting for inventory to arrive, brands can open their selling window sooner, turning anticipation into actual purchases instead of risking lost sales while customer excitement is high. When Timex launched its limited-edition Superman collaboration early on pre-order, it sold nearly 50% of incoming stock on the very first day.
tonies® took a similar approach ahead of the release of Disney's Zootopia 2. By opening pre-orders for its Disney Zootopia Tonie approximately one month before the film premiered, the brand was able to capture demand while anticipation was building. By launch day, 87% of orders had been placed through pre-order.
For brands planning collaborations, limited drops, or launches tied to cultural moments, pre-orders can create an opportunity to turn excitement into revenue when customers are most eager to buy.
Want to take it a step further? Early pre-order sales can also reveal which products are generating the most demand. By doubling down on those bestsellers with a more aggressive pre-order strategy like Maximize Demand, brands can continue capturing sales beyond their initial inventory allocation, turning a limited launch into an even bigger revenue opportunity.
MAKE MORE OF EVERY LAUNCH
The opportunity to sell more doesn't always require a new product, a bigger marketing budget, or a complete overhaul of the merchandising calendar. Sometimes, it simply means starting sooner.
By adding pre-orders to their launch strategy, brands can begin selling new arrivals before inventory reaches the warehouse, extending the window to generate revenue from collections they're already planning to launch.
It's a relatively simple shift with the potential to make a meaningful difference in sell-through and overall launch revenue.
Sounds great, but not sure how to put it into practice? That's where Purple Dot comes in. We make it easy for brands to launch products on pre-order before inventory arrives, so they can extend selling windows, capture demand earlier, and get more out of every launch.
Ready to get more out of your next product launch? Book a meeting with Purple Dot to explore what's possible.
