Pre-order Strategy: 4 Data-Driven Lessons from $85M in Sales



Intro

At PreProduct we recently passed one million pre-orders processed for merchants, totalling over $85M USD (report here). We dug into the data to pull out 4 key lessons to inform your pre-order strategy — things you can actually use to sell more (and smarter).
Prefer a video? click here.

Lessons

Lesson 1: Ditch the discount

  • Insight: 90.4% of pre-orders don’t offer a discount. Turns out, early access is often enough of a hook. The opportunity is to be one of the first to grab the item.
  • Lesson: Instead of relying on discounts to drive urgency, open the doors earlier. Longer sales windows = more time to capture demand without undercutting your price. Bonus: you get to run two launches — one for pre-order, one for general availability

Source: https://preproduct.io/one-million-pre-orders#discounts

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to go early

  • Insight: The most common stated shipping time range for pre-order is 4 – 5 months from the date of pre-launch
  • Lesson: Taking pre-orders well in advance is totally doable — especially with charge-later or deposit-based flows. Most customers are happy to wait, as long as expectations are clear.

Source: https://preproduct.io/one-million-pre-orders#shipping-timing

Lesson 3: Whatever the price, as long as it’s above $10

  • Insight: Products can do well regardless of price which the partial exception of the $0-10 price range. The $25–$50 range made up 42.7% of orders. But the $250+ range brought in more than 2x the revenue by our estimates.
  • Lesson: Unless your product is priced under $10, there’s a strong case for running a pre-launch to take pre-orders. Higher price? Consider taking a deposit or charging upfront. Long lead time? consider charging-later pre-orders.

Source: https://preproduct.io/one-million-pre-orders/#pricing

Lesson 4: Don’t let mixed carts scare you off

  • Insight: 62.1% of stores don’t allow buy-now and pre-order items in the same cart — and that’s totally fine.
  • Lesson: Mixed carts are doable — via fulfilment holds or conditional line item logic — but they’re not required to get started. Keeping pre-orders in separate orders is often the simplest path early on, and you can always evolve from there.

Source: https://preproduct.io/one-million-pre-orders/#mixed-carts

mixed cart of buy-now / pre-order items

Bonus insight: Pre-orders aren’t just for startups

  • Insight: From what we’ve seen over the last 4 years, more pre-orders come from existing brands than early-stage startups (although there’s plenty of them too).
  • Lesson: Pre-orders aren’t just a Kickstarter tactic. They’re a flexible tool — whether you’re managing cashflow, gauging demand, or building buzz. Whatever your company size, there’s most likely a way they can provide value.

Conclusion

That’s it — 4 lessons (plus a bonus) from 1 million pre-orders. Hopefully a few ideas in there can help you sell earlier, smarter, and with fewer discounts this year.

If you’re experimenting with pre-orders or planning a launch, feel free to get in touch or click the button below to start a free trial.

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