Shopify pre-order apps can help you increase sale speed, decrease markdowns, improve inventory allocation, and give you constant cash flow.
Research shows that more than a quarter (28%) of pre-orders are placed on the very day products are made available to the market.
So, don’t wait until your products are on the shelves to start selling them; give your customers access to the hottest items before they’re even in stock. Let these top 7 best Shopify pre-order apps that help you set up coming-soon products.
Can you set up Shopify pre-orders without apps?
Can you set up pre-orders on Shopify without using third-party apps? Yes, you can. To set up pre-orders, you have to make some manual adjustments to your store’s products and settings. Here is a 10-minute-long detailed video guide on how to set it up on your storefront that you can check out.
While you can set up pre-orders by yourself, doing so has some limitations such as:
- Complicated manual process: Setting pre-orders without the help of any app requires manual setup and adjustments, which is time-consuming, especially if you have many products.
- Lack of advanced features: Apps often offer more advanced features like customizable pre-order buttons, pre-design templates, customizable checkout, and detailed reporting while the manual process doesn’t offer them.
- Lack of automated notifications: Without apps, you won’t have automated notifications for customers regarding the status of their pre-orders, such as shipping updates or delays
- No reports and analytics: Tracking pre-order sales separately from regular sales is only straightforward with apps.
- Hard to scale up: Manually managing pre-orders becomes less feasible as your store develops.
Using third-party apps makes it easy to install and use without any coding skills, and they can help automate and streamline the pre-order process effortlessly
What Shopify pre-order apps can do?
Using Shopify pre-order apps for your Shopify store can significantly enhance your ability to manage and optimize pre-orders. Here are some key benefits that pre-order apps typically can do for your business:
- Set up pre-orders automatically: Easily enable pre-orders for specific products or variants in bulk without manual intervention. You can switch the “add to cart” button to a “pre-order” button automatically when products are out of stock.
- Customizable pre-order buttons and messaging: You can freely customize the text and appearance of pre-order buttons or change the descriptions like messages, delivery dates, etc.
- Send notifications automatically: Send automated email/SMS notifications to customers when they place a pre-order, updating them on their order status and shipping dates
- Deposits and partial payments: Allow customers to make partial payments or deposits at the time of pre-order
- Detailed reports and analytics: the best apps usually offer reports on your pre-order product performance.
Pre-order apps are powerful tools to drive sales, market products, and enhance your customer service. Dive in and find out more about the most popular apps on Shopify.
1. PreOrder Now WOD – Capture more sales with pre-sales
Increase your sales by offering ‘coming soon’ products or accepting backorders for items that are currently out of stock. PreOrder Now WOD will help boost your revenue and give you a competitive edge over your competitors.
User Feedback on PreOrder Now WOD: 4.5 stars from 1379 reviews
Key Features:
- PreOrder discounts
- Partial payments
- Back-in-stock notification when pre-order products are ready to ship out.
Pricing
- Free: Free
- Basic: $19.95/month
- Standard: $39.95/ month
- Advanced: $59.95/month
The app will automatically change the “add to cart” to “pre-order” buttons for out-of-stock items, or just display a pre-order button for coming-soon products; and many more useful features like pre-order badges, mixed cart alerts, enable partial payments, send emails, tag products, discounts on pre-orders, etc.
A study by the IHL Group found that retailers miss out on nearly $1 trillion in sales per year because of out-of-stock items ($144.9 billion in North America alone). Stop losing money to ‘Out of Stock’ buttons, Pre-order Now allows your customers to buy products before they become available.
2. Appikon Pre‑Order – Create preorders & waitlists
Appikon Pre-Order Today is easy to install and set up, it can turn your sold-out stock into secured revenue in no time.
User Feedback on Appikon Pre-order: 4.8 stars from 538 reviews
Key Features:
- Create preorders & waitlists
- Switch Add to Cart with Pre-order buttons for out-of-stock products
- Easy installation & setup
Pricing
- Free: Free
- Starter: $7.99/ month
- Pro: $14.99/month
- Premium: $24.99/month
You can create waitlists or pre-order lists for out-of-stock or upcoming products with Appikon Pre-Order Today. The app also provides customers with more information and keeps them updated on the availability of the product
Pre‑order Today app is free to use with a basic plan offering the basic features. There are also 3 paid plans: Starter, Pro, and Premium. The Starter plan includes all the basic features and allows merchants to set up multiple pre-order products, while the Pro plan offers advanced features such as pre-order badges, product tagging, and pre-order discounts; the Premium plan includes everything in the Pro plan, plus additional features.
3. Amai PreOrder Manager + Notify – The all-in-one, unlimited usage pre-order now app
Amai PreOrder Manager is the all-in-one “coming soon products” app for Shopify; it offers a suite of comprehensive settings and features that cater to both your business needs and your customer’s expectations.
User Feedback on Amai: 4.5 stars from 1055 reviews
Key Features:
- Automate and schedule pre-order dates
- Customizable pre-order pages
- Replace ‘Buy Now’ buttons with a ‘Coming Soon’
Pricing
- Basic: $24.95/month
- Standard: $39.95/ month
- Advanced: $59.95/month
- Plus: $89.95/month
Amai comes with every feature and functionality you’ll ever need such as automation and scheduling, back-in-stock emails, pre-order badges, partial payment, preorder discounts, release calendar, or pre-order by country.
With $140+ million in revenue generated in pre-orders to date and 8,100+ active Shopify merchants, Amai can maximize sales during stockouts with pre-orders.
4. PreOrder Me – Easily manage product bookings and track pre-order sales
PreOrder Me is a powerful and easy-to-use app built specifically for Shopify merchants, with this pre-order app store owners can easily boost sales 4x more than standard sales.
User Feedback on PreOrder Me: 4.6 stars from 134 reviews
Key Features:
- Customizable widget style
- Variant-based pre-order strategy
- Bulk manage pre-order settings
Pricing
- Standard: $9.99/month
- Silver: $14.99/ month
PreOrder Me lets store owners make bulk changes to settings which can save merchants time and money setting up pre-orders; it also offers many customizable widget styles to match your existing themes.
5. PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock – Free pre-order app for Shopify
PreOrder Globo gives you access to controllable pre-order strategies for each product and variant, helping you make the best out of the pre-order system.
User Feedback on PreOrder Globo: 4.8 stars from 977 reviews
Key Features:
- Partial payment and automatic discount
- Show “Notify me” button on Out Of Stock product
- Custom delivery note
Pricing
- Free to install
The app allows you to set the date and time your products will be in stock with a countdown timer; The stock will become automatically updated when the countdown timer on your product’s details page expires.
After installing the Globo PreOrder app, it is easy for you to configure pre-orders and product stock, including whether or not any products are sold out. You only need to select a product and enable the pre-order option on it. The best part is you can install this amazing app and use all these features for free.
6. Timesact Preorder & Notify Me
Pre‑Order T (formerly Timesact) was created by Timesact. Timesact report shows that merchants who use their app sell 15% more on average by offering pre-orders and back-in-stock notifications to their customers when supply runs out or production is not finalized.
User Feedback on Timesact Preorder: 5.0 stars from 1474 reviews
Key Features:
- Partial payment 2.0 & discount 2.0
- Zoom or Google Meets set-up guide
- Activate preorder, back in stock, coming soon by product tag in Shopify
Pricing
- Free: Free
- Flexible from $1/m: $1/ month
- Fixed – New users: $17/month
With a rating of 5.0 stars from 1474 reviews, more than 3.5 million orders processed and 14.000 happy users Timesact quality and efficiency are already proven. There are many useful features such as free specialist onboarding, easily captured emails with forms, turn notify me on/off based on inventory, automated badges, buttons, forms, and more.
You can get Timesact Preorder for free, or get your hands on more advanced functionality with just $1 a month.
7. PQ – PreOrder Now & Pre-order – Keep customers informed and improve sales
PreQuik | PreOrder Now & Sale is simple to use and offers features such as scheduling pre-order dates, enabling pre-orders based on stock levels, and maximizing revenue with personalized product messages.
User Feedback on Prequik: 4.9 stars from 634 reviews
Key Features:
- Enable pre-order, backorder, or coming soon for any products
- Offer partial payment & discount
- Quickly control pre-orders & restock
Pricing
- Free to install
Here are the top 10 industry verticals for Shopify stores with PreOrder Now & Pre-order | PQ installed: 24.0% of Shopify stores using Prequik sell Apparel products; 7.5% sell Home & Garden products; 7.5% sell Beauty & Fitness products.
PreOrder Now & Pre-order Prequik is popular with e-commerce businesses for its amazing and useful features and functionality.
See more app lists
- Top 7 Best Back-In-Stock Apps For Shopify 2024
- Top 7 Must-Have Product Recommendation Apps on Shopify [2024]
- 5+ Shopify Product Customizer Apps That You Need
- 07 Best Product Sourcing Apps for Shopify (for dropshipping)
- 10+ Best Shopify Marketing Apps To Expand Brand Reach
- 15+ Free Apps on Shopify [2024]
Wrap it up
Setting up Shopify pre-order apps not only enhances customer satisfaction but also provides a competitive edge in e-commerce. Try out the top 7 pre-order apps and find out which is the best for your store!
Dan Muller
I have been working in marketing for four years, passionate about creative writing and copy writing. Love to be alone at watersides, sip coffee, play games or read anything that is thought provoking.