Pre-ordering, a popular model

In this article, we're going to talk about pre-ordering, the famous sales system that has become increasingly popular in recent years and continues to gain ground in the French e-commerce landscape. This model stands in stark contrast to the standard mass-production scheme, which makes products instantly available to consumers and generates millions of tons ofunsold and dead (dormant) stock every day.

Pre-order definition

Pre-ordering is defined by the model whereby an industrial company will only produce the quantities it has sold upstream. This means that customers agree to buy a product and pay you the money before they even see or touch the pre-ordered product.

Advantages of pre-ordering :

1. No cash advance
2. No stock (or very little to manage returns and exchanges)
3. The assurance of selling 100% of the products you produce (although be careful about your returns policy)
4. A more responsible brand image, since you're not overproducing and you're reducing your carbon footprint.
5. It's become a selling point. So, with the right communication and a targeted marketing campaign, it can be a real success.

The precursors of pre-ordering

It's all about marketing, and as the various precursors will tell you, marketing is essential to the success of your pre-orders. Since your customers won't have the opportunity to see your products in person, or even to have an opinion on them, you need to gain their trust sufficiently for them to be ready to make a purchase.

Take Asphalte, for example, a leader in the art of pre-ordering. 

Asphalte is a French brand, offering high-quality, robust, solid and elegant pieces for men's wardrobes who want a great scape at a fair price.

Before creating the brand, Asphalte's founders had already tried their hand at ready-to-wear. They first founded Six et Sept, which offered knitwear, again for men, with the same idea of offering quality garments. It didn't work out as they'd hoped, and they closed the company a few years ago, despite excellent feedback from specialized forums (Bonne Gueule or CommeUnCamion).

Instead of hiding from it and taking it as a failure, being passionate about clothes, it led them to think differently. Having a physical boutique today in Paris and in a "classic" collection system is very complicated.

Stock, rent, staff... This made their sweaters too expensive and I don't have the exact reasons but I imagine it's complicated to balance the books.

Asphalte explains all this in their "mission statement". Transparency...

How pre-ordering works

The way it works is very simple: the Asphalte team selects a product they wish to offer for pre-order, and via a questionnaire, they refine the design, materials, cut... 

Basically, it's the customer who chooses what his future suit will look like. 

At the start of the adventure, Asphalte was running at around 1,000 pre-orders per item. Today, over 31,000 men have pre-ordered their latest T-shirt.

With experience, Asphalte now knows perfectly well the return rate they'll have per pre-order campaign (some customers order 5 sizes for a product, for example, just to take the one that suits them best, which can be surprising at first), but the system is excellent. 

Often, the success of pre-order campaigns (Ulule, Kickstarter, or other pre-order brands) lies in upstream communication. If done well, your campaign can be funded before it even begins. We'll talk about this in a future article.

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