How Can Preorder Sales Help Online Businesses?

How Can Preorder Sales Help Online Businesses? If you have a great product and there is already a demand. You probably should launch a preorder strategy for your business. Why do you ask? Because getting early sales to fund further production or even to grow your marketing budget will be an easy win.

So what is a preorder?

It’s simple, when your online store does not have the product in stock, has not been manufactured, or will be available at a specific date. You can allow a preorder to collect funds right away for those willing to wait.

Here are a few ways online stores will use Preorders:

1. Preorders for Book Sales

Let’s take a new book from an author. If an author already has a true calling to a book series, then adding a preorder button to their website along with the release date can allow the customer to preorder. So if they forget, It will be ready to ship on the release date, and will be first in line to get the book.

The author DJ Molles used a preorder strategy in his hit book series “The Remaining” and had a drawing to be a character in one of his novels.

2. Games and Gaming Console

The gaming industry has a massive following. It’s so big that many games and even new consoles can run out of stock very quickly, so gamers are already conditioned to preorder so they can play on the date the product becomes available.

Xbox Series X is not even out yet, but thousands of people are already searching the term “Xbox Series X Preorders” every day. Make no mistake when it is ready to be ordered. Every major retailer will have its preorder button ready.

Playstation 4 in 2013 reached over 1.5 million in preorder sales before the release date.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/662626/game-pre-order-frequency-us-gamers/

Statista posted preordering statistics for 2016, showing that 20% of users regularly preorder, 29% occasionally, 18% rarely, and 15 never order preorder products.

3. Limited Edition Products

Many retailers may include limited edition products. One example is a sock in the apparel industry.

Stand 4 Socks has some limited edition collector socks, which are pretty cool.

Puscifer is offering a messed up-looking puzzle product that had only 666 puzzles made. That’s a bit freaky.

If you’re into Godzilla, you can pick up a preorder of a cute collectible at the Big Bad Toy Store online.

Before You Start, You Need A Preorder Strategy

Not every product will work as a preorder, and you cannot put every upcoming product as a preorder. There needs to be hype, and demand created first if you want to be successful. Here are a few tips we recommend before starting a preorder product.

1. Begin your marketing efforts 1 to 3 months ahead of time.
2. Make it a significant event and focus on just one product at a time.
3. Be sure to have all your copy and finalize advertising materials before you begin.
4. Ensure your site can handle the extra load of traffic.
5. Advertise online through PPC and Social.
6. Use email marketing and your current email subscriber to promote the preorder.
7. Get personal with your loyal customers online through Facebook.
8. Try surveys before launch to get a feel if customers would be interested.

You can also add to your strategy the following preorder tactics:

• Offer collectible digital or printed swag.
• Discounts and Cross-promote available items
• Do live social interviews for your preorder group.
• Run a contest to involve customers in the launch
• Get early reviews

So are you ready for preorders, and do you have a WooCommerce website? If you do, we offer an outstanding product called Preorders for WooCommerce.