How to Add Pre-Order Functionality

What's the Idea Behind Pre-Orders?

A pre-order is an order placed for items which are not yet available and have not been released. Pre-orders were started for popular products that were often hard to buy because of their popluarity and tendency to sell out. With a pre-order, customers can guarantee that they will get a product once it is available or released by the manufacturer. Pre-orders have become a popular way for stores to build anticipation, hype, and marketing for their products.

The Components of a Pre-Order Function

To implement a pre-order function, there are a few things that your eCommerce system must keep track of:

• The initial purchase transaction
• The actual release date of the product
• The date promised to customers.

Installing the Pre-order Module

Fortunately, Jonathan Garbee has developed a pre-order module for the LemonStand marketplace. You can learn more about Jonathan and the other modules he has developed here: http://lemonstand.com/marketplace/author/garbee/

There are 4 steps to adding and using the pre-order module on your LemonStand store: 

1. Get the Pre-Order module from the marketplace
2. Bind and add the Pre-Order module to your chosen project
3. Configure settings for products that will be available for pre-order
4. Create reports for products that are currently on pre-order, their release dates, and the pre-order details. 

How to Check for Orders on Pre-order

To check for a product being on pre-order (if the checkbox is checked) use:

<?php echo $product->garbee_preorder_details ?>

How to Check Release Dates on Pre-order Products

To get the Release Date for the product:

<?php echo $product->garbee_preorder_details ?>

How to Get Pre-Order Details

Finally to get the pre-order details:

<?php echo $product->garbee_preorder_details ?>

Next: How to Set up Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)
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