How are Pre-order and Backorder Catalogs Managed in HotWax Commerce?

In HotWax Commerce, merchandisers have the option to schedule the 'Auto Refresh Pre-sell Catalog' job, which will automatically add or remove pre-sell products from the HotWax Pre-order/Backorder category. Any items that are part of the Pre-order/Backorder category will be listed on Shopify as pre-order or backorder items.

The job titled 'Auto refresh Pre-sell catalog' adds pre-sell items to the HotWax Commerce Pre-order/Backorder category, using the following criteria.

• The status of Purchase Order items is created or approved.

• The Purchase Order is scheduled for a future date.

• The current inventory of the product is 0.

Once these conditions are fulfilled, products become eligible for pre-sell on HotWax Commerce. In addition, HotWax Commerce examines the "isNewStyle" attribute of the products included in the purchase orders. If the "isNewStyle" attribute is set to "Yes," the product is included in the pre-order category. Conversely, if the merchant has indicated "No" for the "isNewStyle" attribute, the product is placed in the backorder category.

In the following example, let’s assume a merchant has 4 purchase orders aligned:

Purchase orders are carefully analyzed to determine which products are available for preselling. In the example provided, the Yellow jacket and Red skirt do not meet the pre-sell criteria and therefore cannot be added in the pre-sell catalog. However, all other products are categorized for pre-selling based on whether they are a new style or not.

The job called "Auto Refresh Pre-Sell Catalog" also eliminates pre-sell items from the pre-order/backorder category in HotWax Commerce, using the following criteria:

• When pre-orders on the entire future inventory are received and no additional pre-orders can be taken.

• When the Purchase Order status is changed to “Canceled” or ’”Completed” by the merchandiser.

• When inventory is physically received at the fulfillment center.

• When the Purchase Order arrival date that is the promised fulfillment date has been passed.

HotWax Commerce can read Purchase Orders from the ERP to identify which products are available for pre-sell, the quantity available, and their expected delivery dates. Merchants can also manually upload POs using the HotWax Commerce PO Import App. HotWax Commerce automates the listing and delisting of pre-order and backorder items on Shopify by analyzing purchase orders. This includes displaying estimated delivery dates on the PDP, efficiently processing pre-orders/backorders, and ensuring accurate fulfillment. HotWax Commerce also provides a Pre-order PDP App that replaces the default 'Add to Cart' button and displays estimated delivery dates on the Shopify PDP.

How is the Pre-Order and Backorder Catalog Synced from HotWax Commerce to Shopify?

The items that are available for pre-order or backorder are transferred from HotWax Commerce to Shopify through the "presell catalog sync" job. This job is set to run every 15 minutes by default and updates the product listings on Shopify based on any changes made to the pre-order/backorder category in HotWax Commerce within the last 15 minutes.

The products are listed/delisted from Shopify through the following steps:

1. The “presell catalog sync” job generates a GraphQL file that contains information about products that have been added or removed from the pre-order/backorder category. This file is then uploaded to Shopify. The details included in the GraphQL file are the promised delivery date, product category, and product status.

2. The GraphQL File also indicates whether the "continue selling when out of stock" flag should be turned ON or OFF.

3. When a GraphQL file is processed by Shopify, the meta field on the product variants is populated with the promise date, product category, and product status. HotWax Commerce checks the inventory policy for each product variant to ensure that "Continue selling when out of stock" is automatically turned on or off

To further illustrate this example, let’s take a look at a GraphQL file for the given purchase order items:

Once all the products are listed on Shopify, it's important to add the HC:Pre-order or HC:Backorder tag accordingly. These tags can easily be added using the 'Add pre-order tags' and 'Add backorder tags' jobs, which run every 15 minutes. By checking the pre-order category in the meta fields, the jobs add the appropriate tag to the parent product on Shopify.

The HotWax Commerce Pre-order PDP app utilizes tags and meta fields to modify the 'Add to Cart' button and show the expected delivery date on Shopify PDP. Products labeled with 'HC:Pre-order' tags will have the 'Add to Cart' button changed to 'Pre-Order', while products with 'HC:Backorder' tags will display 'Backorder' instead.

When a product is delisted from presell, its status changes to inactive and the option to 'continue selling out of stock' is set to false. There are three conditions that may require inventory to be delisted from Shopify.

After the merchant has received all the orders for the available ATP on the black jacket:

When the merchant receives red shirts inventory at their fulfillment center:

When the arrival date of a purchase order is passed:

After delisting pre-orderable products from Shopify, merchants can use the 'Remove pre-order tags' and 'Remove backorder tags' jobs to get rid of the HC:Pre-order and HC:Backorder tags. This will happen automatically every 15 minutes.

If a pre-orderable product is delisted from Shopify, the buttons for 'Pre-order' and 'Backorder' will switch to 'Add to Cart' on the Shopify PDP page as long as there is inventory for any upcoming orders. If the available to promise (ATP) quantity runs out and becomes zero, the "Pre-order" and "Backorder" buttons will switch to "Out of Stock".