You can set pre-order activities for products in your store that customers can view on the product details page. Pre-order activities can assist in maintaining customer relationships and improve after-sales service. Pre-order activities also allow customers to have a better understanding of product launch times and preparation periods, thereby reducing disputes arising from long wait times after placing orders. It also helps improve understanding of customer demand for your products.

 

In This Article

• Tips for Creating Pre-order Activities
• Creating a Pre-order Activity
• Viewing Pre-order Activity List
• Editing a Pre-order Activity

 

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Tips for Creating Pre-order Activities

• Your store can have multiple valid pre-order activities, but each product can only participate in one valid pre-order activity at a time.
  
• If a product has multiple variants, you can set up activities for each variant separately.
• When the Payment & discount settings feature is on:
  • You can set the purchase method when entering the checkout page or cart page. It's recommended to do so at checkout to avoid order splitting for shipment.
  • Pre-sale discounts only work with automatic discounts and discount codes, not with other promotions.
  • Avoid activating multiple market functions simultaneously (Settings > Markets > Create a market), as this may affect pre-order activities.
• When the Payment & discount settings feature is not on: 
  • Pre-sale products only display activity-related information in the store; pre-sale discounts do not apply to these products.
  • Pre-order activities can be combined with other promotions like automatic discounts, discount codes, gifts, limited-time offers, and VIP prices.
  • You can still use the multiple markets function(Settings > Markets > Create a market) without affecting pre-order activities.
• When setting pre-order limitations, end-of-period inventory must be lower than start-of-period inventory.

 

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Creating a Pre-order Activity

Follow the steps below to create a pre-order activity:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Apps > Pre-order.
   
   
2. In the app, click Activity settings > Create pre-order activity.
   
   
3. In the Activity title section, enter the title of the current pre-order activity, for example, "Pre-order."
   

   Note: Customers can view your activity title on the landing page, the cart page, and the checkout page.

   
   
4. Under the Activity products section, configure these settings:

• • Click Add products, select the applicable products or product variants, and click Select.
  • (Optional) If you want to limit the pre-order quantity of the products, check the Limit pre-order quantity box.
    • If a single variant of a product is selected, enter the desired quantity in the Pre-sale quantity field.
    • If the product includes multiple variants, click the pencil icon to modify the pre-sale quantity for each variant.
    • If additional promotional inventory hasn't been set for the products, the promotional inventory will match the product inventory in the product management section.
  • Batch operation: Pre-sale quantity can be set in batches.
    • After checking the products, click Modify pre-sale quantity or the Modify all pre-order quantities button above the product list to adjust quantities in batches. The inventory quantity you set will take effect on each product variant within the activity.

5. In the Start time section, configure the following settings:

• • To set the end time of the pre-order activity, uncheck the Never expires box and specify the end time.
  • If you want the pre-order activity to remain valid indefinitely, keep the Never expires box checked.

6. In the Payment & discount settings section, configure the following settings:

• • Enable the settings, and you can set the payment methods for customers to pay for this product, and separately set discounts for each payment method.
  • Check Supports full payment and/or Supports partial payment to set the payment methods for the products within this activity.
    • Set the discount: After selecting full payment or partial payment, you need to set the discount amount for the corresponding payment method. The discount amount is the pre-sale discount that customers will enjoy when purchasing the promotional products.
      • Percentage discount
      • Fixed amount
      • No discount: When no discount is set, the pre-sale products will not receive any additional pre-sale discounts.
    • Partial payment ratio: If your activity supports partial payment, you need to set a partial payment ratio. This is the amount that customers need to pay initially when purchasing this promotional product.
      • For example, if the partial payment ratio is set to 20%, and the pre-sale price is $100, the customer needs to make an initial payment of $20, representing 20% of the total price. The remaining balance of 80% will then be due.
        

        Notes: The discount set in the partial payment section is calculated based on the price of the pre-sale product. The upfront payment and final payment amount are then calculated based on the discounted amount and the partial payment ratio. For example, if you have a product with an original price of USD 100 and you set a discount of USD 20 with a partial payment ratio of 10%, when a customer purchases this product using the partial payment method, they will need to pay a total of USD 80, with an upfront payment of USD 8. For partial payment orders, the system can automatically send a bill to remind the customer to make the payment. You can set the email sending time in the Final payment email module. Otherwise, the system will not restrict the time for the customer to make the final payment. If you have set partial payment for the activity, when a customer successfully purchases a product from the pre-order activity using the partial payment method, the pre-order activity app will automatically tag the order as Partial payment. You don't have to tag it manually.

• • • Purchase method

• • • • Enter checkout page: By clicking the PRE-ORDER button on the pre-order activity product on the product detail page, customers will directly go to the checkout page.
      • Enter shopping cart: By clicking the PRE-ORDER button on the product detail page of a pre-order activity product, customers will be directed to the cart page, where they can view the promotional product along with others. If the merchant modifies the terms of the pre-order activity, pre-sale products in the cart may become invalid or experience price changes.

7. In the Pre-order limitation section, you can set the starting and ending conditions for each pre-sale product variant:

• • Starting condition: During the pre-order activity, when the inventory of the product is equal to or less than the assigned quantity, the pre-sale will begin.
  • Ending condition: When the inventory of the product reaches the assigned quantity, the pre-sale will end.
  • If you have checked Limit pre-order quantity when selecting pre-sale products, then the pre-order limitation can only be set for the starting condition (and the pre-order limitation is the ending condition by default).
    

    Notes: If you have not enabled Pre-order limitation, the pre-order activity will take effect according to the activity time. If you have enable the Pre-order limitation feature: After the pre-order activity starts, when the product inventory is equal to or less than the starting condition, the pre-selling will begin. When the pre-order activity reaches its end or the ending condition is met, the pre-selling of this product will end. Please note that the end time of each variant is determined by the earlier time between the end time of the activity and the time the ending condition is met.

8. In the Available channels module, click Management to select available channels for this activity.

• • The online store is selected by default. The POS channel can also be selected if configured.

9. In the Product detail page module, configure the following settings:

• • Pre-order button text: You can customize the pre-order button text, and when the pre-order activity starts, the PRE-ORDER button will be displayed on the corresponding product detail page.
  • Display pre-order description: You can choose whether or not to display pre-sale information on the product detail page.
    • The pre-sale information is displayed below the PRE-ORDER button. You can inform the customer of the possible delivery time in the pre-order description.
  • Display the Buy now button: You can choose whether or not to display the purchase button. The purchase button is the Buy now button on the product detail page, which allows direct checkout upon clicking.
    

    Notes: When the Payment & discount settings feature is enabled: Customers can purchase pre-sale products at pre-sale discounts (which could be 0) only when they click the PRE-ORDER button. Add the pre-order products to the Cart page or Checkout page based on the purchase method you have set. If customers click the regular purchase button, they will not be able to participate in the pre-order activity, and the products will be settled as regular products. If your products are available for both pre-order and regular purchases, you can still display the purchase button. If only pre-order is available, it is recommended that you hide the purchase button. When the Payment & discount settings feature is disabled: When customers click the PRE-ORDER button, the pre-sale products will be added to the shopping cart. When customers click the regular purchase button, the current pre-sale product will be directly settled, and the product can still participate in the pre-order activity, and the shopping cart information of the pre-order activity will be displayed. You can choose whether or not to display the purchase button according to your needs. It is recommended that you hide the purchase button. You can preview the effect through the preview image function on the right.

10. In the Cart section, proceed with the following settings:
    • Display pre-order note: You can choose whether or not to display pre-order notes on the cart page and checkout page. If you enable this option, the pre-order note will be visible to customers on their cart page, checkout page, and in the order details. You can also view the note in the corresponding order details from your SHOPLINE admin panel.
    • This note can effectively help you and your customers distinguish pre-order products in the entire order, avoid forgetting which products in the order are pre-sale products, and help reduce subsequent order disputes.
    • You can preview the effect through the preview image function on the right.
      
      
11. In the Pre-order tag module, you can configure the following settings:
    • Enable or disable pre-order tag display in the store.
    • Choose the pre-order tag style as a color tag or image tag.
    • Choose to display the pre-order tag on the product collection page or product detail page.
      
    • Set the display position of the tag on the product image.
      
      
12. In the Final payment email module, configure the following settings:
    • Send immediately once deposit is paid: For pre-order products with partial payment, customers will receive a final payment email reminder immediately after paying the deposit.
    • Fixed date: Send a final payment email reminder to customers on a specific date. For example, if the push date is set to July 1, 2023, the final payment email reminder will be sent on July 1st for all pre-order orders.
    • Fixed cycle: After setting a fixed cycle, the final payment email reminder will be sent to customers after a specified period following the placement of pre-sale orders.
      
      
13. In the Order display information section, you can choose whether or not to generate an order tag for pre-order orders.
    • If you check the Generate pre-order order tag for pre-order orders box, then the pre-order activity app will automatically add the tagged Pre-Order to the orders generated by this activity to help you distinguish which orders are pre-sale orders.
    • If you don't check this option, the orders generated by this activity will not have the Pre-Order tag.
    • If you have set partial payment for the activity, when a customer successfully purchases a product from the pre-order activity using the partial payment method, the pre-order activity app will automatically tag the order as Partial payment. You don't have to tag it manually.
      
      
14. Click Create to create the pre-order activity.

 

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Viewing Pre-order Activity List

After creating your pre-order activities, you can manage and access the editing page of any pre-order activity through the pre-order activity list.

To view the activity list, simply go to the Pre-order app and click the Activity settings tab.

• In the Activity name column, you can view the title of the corresponding pre-order activity.
• In the Activity date column, you can view the effective time of the activity, including the start and end times.
• In the Sales volume column, you can view the current number of products sold in this activity. When the order includes pre-order activity products, the quantity of products in promotion will be recorded as sales volume.
• In the Activity status column, you can view the status of this activity.
  • Current: The activity is in progress.
  • Pending: The activity hasn't started yet.
  • Invalid: The activity has ended.
• Batch operation: You can check desired activities and delete them in bulk.

 

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Editing a Pre-order Activity

You can edit the activity information on the activity settings page of any pre-order activity. You can modify the activity title, activity products and pre-order quantities, activity time, payment & discount settings, pre-order limitation, content displayed on the product detail page and cart page, and order tags.

Follow the steps below:

1. On the Activity settings page, search for  the desired activity and  click on it to enter the editing page.
2. After making changes, click Update. This will ensure that the latest activity information is displayed in your store, allowing customers to see the most up-to-date details when browsing.

 

3. You can also disable the corresponding pre-order activity at any time. On the activity settings page, click the Disable button. This will remove the disabled activity from the store. At the same time, the end time of the activity will be adjusted to the time it was disabled.