How to Master Product Backorders in WooCommerce: A Comprehensive Guide
Introduction:
Running an online store with WooCommerce often presents unique challenges, especially when dealing with popular products. Sometimes, demand exceeds immediate supply, leading to stockouts. While stockouts can be frustrating for customers, strategically using backorders can turn this potential negative into a positive. Backorders allow customers to purchase products even when they’re temporarily out of stock, ensuring sales continuity and demonstrating the value of your offerings. This guide will walk you through how to make a product backorder in WooCommerce, outlining the necessary steps, best practices, and potential drawbacks. Mastering backorders can significantly impact your revenue and customer satisfaction.
Main Part:
Understanding Backorders in WooCommerce
Before diving into the implementation, let’s clarify what a backorder is in the context of WooCommerce. A backorder means that a customer can purchase a product that isn’t currently available in your inventory. You’re promising to fulfill their order once the product is restocked. This allows you to:
- Capture sales that you would otherwise lose due to stockouts.
- Gauge demand for products and plan restocking effectively.
- Maintain customer engagement even when products are temporarily unavailable.
- “Do not allow”: This is the default setting. Customers cannot purchase the product when it’s out of stock.
- “Allow, but notify customer”: Customers can purchase the product, and they’ll be notified during the checkout process that the item is on backorder. This is generally the recommended option for transparency.
- “Allow”: Customers can purchase the product without any specific notification about the backorder status during the checkout process. This can be misleading and should be used with caution.
Enabling Backorders in WooCommerce: A Step-by-Step Guide
WooCommerce provides built-in options to manage backorders easily. Here’s how to enable them:
1. Navigate to the Product Edit Page: Go to your WordPress dashboard, click on “Products,” and then select the specific product you want to enable backorders for.
2. Access the Inventory Tab: On the product edit page, scroll down to the “Product data” meta box. Click on the “Inventory” tab.
3. Manage Stock Status: Under the “Inventory” tab, you’ll find a “Stock status” dropdown. By default, it’s likely set to “In stock.” When the product runs out of stock, WooCommerce will automatically change this to “Out of stock.”
4. Enable Backorders: Next, you’ll find the “Allow backorders?” dropdown. Here are your options:
5. Update Stock Quantity (Optional): If you know you have a shipment on its way, you can use the “Stock quantity” field in conjunction with backorders. You can even set the quantity to “0” and rely entirely on backorders.
6. Save Your Changes: Click the “Update” button at the top or bottom of the product edit page to save your changes.
Customizing Backorder Notifications
While WooCommerce provides basic notification options, you might want to customize the message displayed to customers. You can achieve this using code snippets within your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. Always back up your website before making changes to code.
Here’s an example of how to change the backorder message on the cart page:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_cart_item_name', 'custom_backorder_cart_item_name', 10, 3 );
function custom_backorder_cart_item_name( $item_name, $cart_item, $cart_item_key ) {
if ( $cart_item[‘data’]->is_on_backorder( $cart_item[‘quantity’] ) ) {
$item_name .= ‘ Available on backorder! Will ship in 2-3 weeks.‘;
}
return $item_name;
}
This code snippet adds a custom message “Available on backorder! Will ship in 2-3 weeks.” to the item name in the cart if it’s on backorder. Remember to adjust the message and timeframe to accurately reflect your backorder fulfillment process.
You can also modify the backorder message displayed on the product page using similar filters.
Managing Backorders: Best Practices
- Transparency is Key: Clearly communicate the backorder status and estimated delivery timeframes to your customers. Use email marketing to keep them updated on their order status.
- Accurate Lead Times: Provide realistic estimates for when the product will be back in stock. Overpromising and under-delivering can damage customer trust.
- Prioritize Backorders: Develop a system for efficiently processing and fulfilling backorders as soon as the product is restocked.
- Consider Partial Shipments: If a customer orders multiple items, and only some are on backorder, consider shipping the available items first to provide immediate value.
- Offer Alternatives: If possible, suggest similar products that are currently in stock as an alternative to the backordered item. This can help retain sales.
- Regularly Review and Adjust: Monitor backorder data to identify popular products and anticipate future demand. Adjust your inventory management and marketing strategies accordingly.
Potential Drawbacks of Backorders
While backorders offer numerous benefits, it’s important to be aware of the potential downsides:
- Customer Frustration: Long or inaccurate lead times can lead to customer dissatisfaction and negative reviews.
- Increased Customer Service Burden: Customers on backorder may require more frequent updates and communication, increasing the workload for your customer service team.
- Potential Order Cancellations: If the wait time is too long, customers may cancel their orders, resulting in lost sales and processing fees.
- Inventory Management Complexity: Managing backorders adds complexity to your inventory management processes, requiring careful tracking and communication with suppliers.
- Capital Tie-Up: Backorders represent sales that are not immediately fulfilled, potentially tying up capital until the product is restocked and shipped.
Conclusion:
Enabling and managing backorders effectively in WooCommerce can be a powerful strategy for maximizing sales and building customer loyalty. By following the steps outlined in this guide, prioritizing transparency, and proactively addressing potential drawbacks, you can successfully leverage backorders to your advantage. Remember to monitor your backorder data, continuously refine your processes, and always prioritize the customer experience. Successful backorder management will result in higher sales and improved customer retention for your WooCommerce store.
