The pre-order system on online sales sites has been gaining momentum in recent years and even constitutes a business model in its own right for certain brands.
In a world where immediacy is a reference, choosing the pre-order system is a purchasing method that requires a little patience since your pre-order product triggers the production process of your item that you will only receive for a few weeks or even a few months later for its official release. the pre-order sale on a website has many obvious economic and environmental advantages, but also a better understanding of the needs of our customers to create products that correspond to them.
What is the pre-order system and how does a pre-order sale actually work: We tell you everything about this responsible ordering process and how to pre-order without stress.
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What is pre-order?
When a brand plans a product in a pre-order sales campaign , it assumes that it only produces what is ordered by customers. This economic model is virtuous since unnecessary overproduction is avoided. This approach, long relegated to the closet, which seems so obvious, only regains its stripes with the awareness of environmental issues.
Pre-ordering a garment consists of ordering it upon presentation of a model or visual without necessarily trying it on. The model is not yet manufactured: you pay an amount of money to reserve it somehow and you have to wait for it to be produced to receive it when it is released in a few weeks or even a few months time for the brand of order the fabrics and produce the quantities ordered. Pre-order products on your site are sent to customers as soon as they are ready according to the announced official release schedule.
This pre-order system makes it possible to produce only the clothes ordered by customers without overproducing: At the end of the day, the brand carries out its production without risk of unsold items: A responsible alternative recognized as more virtuous than the traditional in-store sales that we know .
Why pre-order?
Buying a product in pre-order online has many advantages for you but also for the brand to which you pre-order the item but also for the environment.
A more sustainable fashion
Reduce inventory
Choosing the pre-order sale allows you to plan the exact number of products subject to a pre-order and also to order the fabrics and supplies in sufficient quantities without excess: In the end , several advantages to pre-ordering , not only reduced over-stocks of products but also eliminated over-stocks of fabrics and supplies (buttons, threads, zips, etc.) since the brand only orders the materials and supplies it needs to manufacture its pre-order collections. This pre-order system also allows you to take the time to plan a quality production campaign.
Faced with the overproduction of textile items recorded in recent decades, pre-ordering stands out as a sales approach that has a definite ecological advantage, since the brand can produce the exact quantity it needs, without overproduction. It's one of the best fashion options on the planet.
Support Slow fashion
Brands committed to slow fashion disconnect from seasons and trends to offer timeless or creative sustainable items. More seasons, more official release calendars, brands offer collectibles throughout the year without respecting the straitjacket of the fashion planet's collection calendars, far from the frenzy of fast fashion and its overproduction which are overflowing from the racks in the stores.
An attitude that puts the product at the center of the system and makes our customers understand the different manufacturing stages and the time it takes to design, manufacture and release the collections. Make way for reasoned favorite purchases: we forget the mechanisms of compulsive buying to evolve towards reasoned consumption.
Encourage transparency
Switching to a pre-order system involves the customer in the manufacturing cycle and in a logic of transparency.
Indeed the brand sells its pre-order item on your site before having produced it and communicates on the stages of the production cycle to keep its customers informed of the progress of its favorite item until their release. Communicate on these steps is also an opportunity to communicate the components of the cost price.
This approach is totally opposed to fast fashion, the model of which is based on an abundant and varied offer of new collections produced quickly to arrive in stores. These overabundant collections inevitably lead to overstocks to be sold. Good deals sometimes reaching -80% of the price on the label are launched but they raise a question: How is it possible to practice such reductions without having anticipated them in the price displayed beforehand? Some brands do not hesitate in certain cases and apply multiples of up to two figures on the actual cost of the product to set their prices. Better to avoid these brands that play against our environment,
Slow fashion brands, without over-stocking, optimize their manufacturing cycle and their logistics costs and can thus set prices without integrating the impact of sales and storage costs. In the end everyone is a winner!
Choosing the pre-order system as a customer means supporting new business models in the fashion sector that are more virtuous for the planet, especially slow fashion brands.
Limited edition clothes
Opting for pre-order allows you to position yourself as a fashion prescriber since you enter the seraglio of customers who order a limited series.
For some brands, pre-ordering acts as a laboratory which can, in this context, dare to release innovative, very creative products.
Indeed, the quantities that will be launched in production depend on the number of items ordered: the parts are launched in limited quantities: even numbered and will be an incredible opportunity for you to reserve exclusively.
Not only do you have a crush, but by pre-ordering, you will wear an exclusive piece of the brand that she created in small quantities. Pre-ordering provides an opportunity for customers to own a quality, durable and unique wardrobe for a handful of customers.
Benefits of pre-ordering
An advantageous price
Insofar as pre-ordering makes it possible to avoid over-production and ending up with unsold items that will have to be sold off, the brand gives itself the opportunity to limit storage in warehouses and therefore reduce its production costs. storage.
The consequence has a direct impact on prices: You benefit from a lighter price since the brand reduces the costs inherent in stocks. You immediately benefit from a lower price without having to wait for sales and the risk of not having the desired size. Besides, there are often no sales.
In fact, brands that include pre-orders in their offer generally have little or no sales since the residual stock is very low.
Support creators committed to the planet
Buying in pre-order is also an act of support for young creative brands. Indeed, the pre-order makes it possible to pre-finance the purchases of raw materials and production, since you proceed to the payment of the pre-order from the start. For a young brand that wishes to create very beautiful pieces, this approach is a real support that allows them to finance the production of your pieces without stress and to be able to concentrate and create ever more original pieces. Pre-ordering involves you indirectly in the creation process through your financial support and your commitment to the items offered. You also participate without knowing it in the pieces that will be created later; because your pre-orders give an indication of your needs and your favorites: a mine of information for the creator.
Create a link with the brand
Its launching in the pre-order is a strong act on your part, since you pay for an article which is not yet produced. By opting for pre-order, you express a strong commitment, but you also give information about your tastes and your favorites which are very valuable for considering our future creations.
Buying in pre-order establishes a strong relationship between our brand and you customers: you are our best ambassadors.
In addition, the pre-order system reinforces the desirability for the brand maintained by the waiting time and the impatience to revel when you find the package of your much desired item!
How does a pre-order go?
Buying in pre-order is a mark of strong commitment since you agree to buy in advance an item that is not yet in stock at the time of the reservation. The wait begins: We are showing patience until the official release date, when it will finally be available.
Several steps are set in motion as part of a pre-order purchase.
Pre-order: Consultation stage
As soon as it is released on your favorite site, you have just spotted a product offered for pre-order. It's the favorite and you've decided to start a pre-order.
Before embarking on the pre-order system on your site, here are some tips for pre-ordering with confidence:
- Read pre-order information
- In particular check the conditions and the delivery time or official release date of the article or date on which it will be available.
- Also check the conditions and deadlines for potential exchanges, in the event of a size error. check if a small buffer stock will be available.
Pre-order: Payment step
You are conquered and you decide to buy in pre-order without delay: finally, so to speak because you will have to wait until the day when the article is available to receive it and be able to use it or wear it.
To reserve your product, you must, as for the purchase of a classic item, proceed to the basket and proceed to payment on the day of your pre-order.
Several payment options may arise:
- Payment in full on the date of the order
The payment of the full price allows the article at the time of validation of the basket is the most common solution offered. The total payment allows the brand to finance the production of the article in question
- Partial payment
Partial payment is sometimes offered with a first payment available on pre-order and the balance payment before delivery. This payment option requires more complex and cumbersome management but can be offered in certain cases.
The payment stage on the site validates your pre-order. Once your payment has been made, you will have to be patient until the official release of the product...
Pre-order: Confirmation step
At the time of payment, the customer receives proof of payment.
She also receives the details of the item purchased in pre-order (material, color, size) as well as the conditions associated with the pre-order and in particular the production time and the estimated delivery date as soon as the item is available.
At the end of the campaign, the house confirms the closure of the pre-order purchase campaign: An information campaign will also follow throughout the production process. You will wait but you will also discover how your article is made and understand all the stages of production of a garment.
Pre-order: Purchase and production process
As soon as the end of the campaign has come, the quantities ordered are confirmed, which makes it possible to calculate the needs for raw materials and supplies and to plan the manufacture of pre-ordered items.
It is the longest period and the brand informs you of the production process throughout the production stages. The longest time is often the delivery time of the raw materials without which the articles cannot be produced on the manufacturing site.
As soon as the raw materials are received, the manufacturing stages can be initiated:
- The cut of the parts to be assembled of your article are cut size by size, color by color
- The parts are then assembled according to the specifications
- The finishes are then carried out
- The finished items are then folded and packaged for shipment.
To make you wait before the official release, you are generally informed of all these stages which allows you at the same time to discover behind the scenes of the workshop and to understand how your article was shaped.
Pre-order: Delivery stage
The items have been made: Finally it is available and can be shipped.
You receive a notice informing you that you will receive your pre-order item. If you have opted for payment in installments: You must pay the balance to trigger the shipment. As soon as the complete payment is validated, the delivery is carried out.
The day you receive your much desired item, the excitement is at its height, you discover your exclusive product ready to be worn for the next outing! It's time to tell your friends about it and share this new kind of experience with your community.
Upon receipt of the product, you receive a satisfaction survey in order to improve the proposals and the organization for the following pre-order products.
This pre-order system does not leave anyone indifferent, the waiting time until the day you receive it and can finally use it or wear it creates a relationship with time and a special affection that makes you proud. Don't forget to comment on the site and on social media for each day you wear or use it.
As you will have understood, buying a product using a pre-order system requires patience and waiting until its release date, but it is a responsible fashion approach that allows you to significantly reduce inventory volumes as well as articles of finished products but also to use stocks of raw materials in fair quantities without excess. This pre-order system can be offered not only in fashion but also for any type of product for sale on an online sales site.
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