Scheduling product drops with JD Auto Schedule

JD Auto Schedule is a great app for scheduling store changes like product drops, BFCM sales and banners. It can be used in combination with PreProduct to schedule product launches that go live on pre-order.

This doc covers how to use JD Auto Schedule (JD) together with PreProduct to plan a pre-order product drop in advance. You start with the product(s) set to a Shopify status of draft, then schedule them to go live at the exact time of your launch.

You can take it a step further by building off the preorder tag that JD adds, using it to activate a PreProduct template whose eligibility criteria include that tag.

The walkthrough below uses both capabilities. If you would rather keep things simple, list the product for pre-order in PreProduct first, set its status to draft in Shopify, then add the schedule in JD.

Tutorial

1. Set the product to draft in Shopify

Start by giving the product a status of Draft in Shopify.

2. Set up the pre-order in PreProduct

There are two ways to do this, depending on how you manage your pre-orders.

Option 1: If you manage pre-orders manually

1. Open PreProduct and click New listing, then select your product(s), which at this stage will have a Shopify status of draft.
2. Select your pre-order terms and settings, then click Create listing.

Option 2: If you use the listing manager automation

If you use a listing manager automation to manage your pre-order listings automatically:

1. Open PreProduct and make sure one of the listing manager automations is activated from the Setup → Automations screen.

2. Go to the Templates screen and add a new template with a condition of tag includes preorder. Then click through on the right to specify the pre-order terms of the listing.

3. Schedule the drop in JD Auto Schedule

1. In JD Auto Schedule’s main dashboard, under Start with a popular template, select Product pre-order.

2. The schedule will load pre-populated. You just need to:
   • Select the product(s) or collections you’d like to target
   • Set the start date and time of the launch
   • Click to create the schedule

3. At the date and time of the launch, JD Auto Schedule will publish the product(s) and add the preorder tag. This triggers PreProduct to list the product for pre-order, so customers can shop and pre-order the new drop.

A note on tags

Don’t use the Shopify tag pre-order (with a dash) in your template or schedule logic. PreProduct manages that tag automatically, adding and removing it whenever a product goes on or off pre-order. Use preorder (no dash), which is the tag JD Auto Schedule adds.