Magento 2 pre-order is one of the most versatile and effective strategies for online businesses.
Nowadays, you can inform people about a pre-order product in the morning, and there might be hundreds of orders validating and even funding the launch of that product.
There are many fascinating reasons to offer pre-orders in your store, including increasing sales, improving the in-flow cash and the ability to predict product demand. But you should consider a lot of things when selling pre-order products.
So in this article, we will walk you through the different types of pre-orders you can run and how to set up Magento pre-order. Let’s get started!
What Is Magento Pre-Order?
Table of Contents
A Magento pre-order is an order placed for a product that hasn’t been released or is currently out of stock.
To customers, pre-orders allow them to order a product before it is available, and it will be shipped to them once available.
To store owners, pre-orders allow them to sell products they don’t have yet.
When And Why Should You Offer Pre-order on Magento 2?
Selling physical goods always involves some risks.
It is very risky to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars on products that may or may not sell, just based on gut feeling.
Selling pre-orders upfront can be an invaluable approach to product validation.
Running a physical goods business can be very complicated:
- You usually need to coordinate with several third-party suppliers.
- You have to wait for those suppliers to ship products to you.
- You might even need another supplier to package the product before it is ready to send out.
Those processes are time-consuming, and it can take weeks from placing an order with your supplier to when the product is in your warehouse.
Offering pre-orders allows you to start taking orders and receiving money while those processes are happening.
Another great benefit of pre-orders is that you can test the customers’ demands before committing to any product.
3 Popular Pre-order Methods: Pros & cons
There are three different types of pre-order that you can offer for different situations:
- Pay now pre-order
- Pay later pre-order
- Crowdfunding
Pay now pre-order
This is the most common type of pre-order, and it’s like a regular purchase but with a longer shipping time.
Pros:
- You get paid upfront, which is excellent for in-flow cash.
- It can be used for existing products that are out of stock but will be restocked soon.
- Many Magento pre-order extensions can automatically change the “buy now” button to “Pre Order” whenever a product is out of stock.
Cons:
- Regular orders and pre-orders are mixed in the shopping carts can complicate shipping costs and create communication issues.
- It is not suitable for uncertain restock times as customers have paid upfront. Any supplier/shipping delays can negatively impact your reputation.
Pay later pre-order
This type of pre-order allows customers to place their orders now and pay in the future.
It means both the seller and the buyer can cancel the deal in the future as money hasn’t been paid.
Pros:
- You can capture orders for upcoming products.
- You can test new products/variants and only charge customers and commit to production if you receive enough orders.
- You can charge customers whenever you need to, whether it’s before or after you place an order from your suppliers.
- All pre-orders are kept separate from all regular orders.
- Customers usually have a certain number in their head that they are happy to spend, and pay-later pre-orders don’t eat into that mental budget, as they don’t have to pay until the future.
Cons:
- You can collect payment straight away.
- Not all pre-orders will convert when you officially request payment.
- Out-of-stock products can’t automatically be listed as this type of pre-order.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is based around the idea of a “crowd” of people funding a new product or project.
This type of pre-order allows you to list pre-production products with a long time for delivery (often takes months).
Customers will only be charged if there are a certain number of pre-orders made.
Pros:
- You can set a minimum sales target before you’re willing to fulfill orders.
- You can receive money upfront.
- Suitable for first product launches.
- A lot of crowdfunding platforms are happy to promote your campaign to their audience.
Cons:
- Not great for incremental product releases, only suited to new product ideas.
- If you use a third-party crowding platform, there is a lot of work involved in running and setting up your campaign page.
- Crowdfunding platforms usually take about 5% commission.
How To Create Magento Pre-order?
Even though selling pre-orders brings many benefits to your store, Magento 2 does not support this feature by default.
So the only way you can take advantage of this feature is to use a third-party extension.
And we strongly recommend you to use Magento 2 Pre Order by BSS.
Magento 2 Pre Order by BSS
Price: $79
We believe this is the best pre-order extension for Magento because of its price and its list of features.
At the price of only $79, this module has all the features to benefit both store owners and customers.
READ MORE Magento 2 Pre-Order Extensions FREE & PAID: TOP 6 Best Options Ever!
Conclusion
In this article, we have shown everything you need to know to set up and run a successful Magento pre-order campaign.
We hope this is helpful and good luck to you!
BSS Commerce is one of the leading Magento extension providers and web development services in the world. With experienced and certified Magento developers, we commit to bringing high-quality products and services to optimize your business effectively. Furthermore, we offer FREE Installation – FREE 1-year Support and FREE Lifetime Update for every Magento extension.
CONTACT NOW to let us know your problems. We are willing to support you every time.
