Release day, a box of books and a list in pencil
The new book in a popular children's series is out on Thursday. Over the last two months, customers have asked you to keep a copy. Some paid in advance at the till, some paid a deposit, some just asked you to put one aside. A few ordered through your website. The list is on a sheet of paper, plus a few emails and a note on the till.
On Thursday morning, the delivery is smaller than you ordered. You have to decide who gets a copy first, phone everyone to say their copy is ready, and explain to the people at the bottom of the list that they will have to wait.
Pre-orders sit outside the till
Tills are good at selling what is on the shelf. Selling something that does not exist yet, and remembering who asked first, is a different job.
- Pre-orders are taken at the counter, online, by phone and by email.
- Some are paid in full, some with a deposit, some not at all.
- The order of requests is not recorded reliably.
- Delivery quantities from the publisher or supplier may be short.
- Each customer is contacted by hand on release day.
What pre-order muddles cost
Pre-orders are loyalty in action: customers are choosing to wait for you instead of clicking elsewhere. Getting it wrong, such as forgetting someone, giving their copy away or failing to tell them it has arrived, undoes that loyalty at the moment it matters.
Release days are also busy days. Phoning every customer and sorting out who paid what takes staff away from the queue.
How we build pre-orders for a shop
- Each upcoming release has a pre-order page on your website and a matching option at the till, so every pre-order goes into one list in the order it was placed.
- Customers pay in full, pay a deposit or reserve without paying, as you choose for each release.
- Your order to the publisher or supplier can be checked against the pre-order count, so you see early if you are ordering too few.
- When stock arrives, copies are allocated to pre-orders in order, and any shortfall is shown straight away, with the customers affected listed.
- Customers with a copy receive a message that it is ready to collect or has been posted. Those without are told honestly when to expect it.
- At collection, staff find the pre-order by name, take any balance and mark it collected.
| Stage | Paper list | Pre-order system |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-order taken | Pencil on a sheet, or an email | One list, in order, from all routes |
| Payment | Mixed and hard to track | Full, deposit or none, recorded |
| Stock arrives | Sorted by hand | Allocated in order automatically |
| Short delivery | Worked out on the day | Affected customers listed |
| Customer told | Phone calls | Message sent |
Rules on how deposits and pre-payments are handled if a release is delayed or cancelled are yours to set. The system shows customers the terms you choose.
Release day with pre-orders sorted
When the box arrives, the allocation is done in minutes. Customers get their message, and the shelf of named, bagged copies is ready behind the counter. The people who will have to wait have already been told, kindly and early. Staff spend release day serving rather than phoning.
Popular series and authors become a regular reason for customers to come back, because they trust you to have their copy on the day.
The same list shows, after each release, how many pre-orders turned into collections and how many copies you could have sold if the delivery had been bigger, which helps when you order for the next book in the series.
Signs your pre-orders need this
- Pre-orders are kept on a paper list.
- Customers pre-order through several routes.
- You phone customers one by one on release day.
- Short deliveries lead to awkward conversations.
- You are not sure how many pre-orders you have for a release.