In e-commerce, an out-of-stock situation should never mean the end of a sale. The backorder offers a strategic alternative for preserving your sales while controlling your logistics. But it’s important to make the most of it. Here’s how.
In e-commerce, temporary product unavailability is no longer a foregone conclusion. Thanks to backordering, it is possible to maintain sales even when an item is not yet in stock. This logistics mechanism, often misunderstood or under-exploited, can become a real performance lever… provided it is well managed.
- What’s a backorder?
- When to use the backorder?
- The risks of a poorly managed backorder
- Best practices for managing backorders
Faced with volatile inventories, supply chain tensions and increasingly demanding consumers, understanding and mastering deferred orders is essential for any ambitious e-business.
What’s a backorder?
In e-commerce logistics, certain products are not always available in stock at the time of order. But that doesn’t mean the sale is lost. This is where the backorder comes in, a simple but powerful method for managing the temporary unavailability of items, without blocking purchases or frustrating customers.
Simple definition
A backorder is an order placed by a customer when the product is not immediately available in stock. The item will be dispatched as soon as it is restocked, without the customer having to place a new order.
In practical terms, this means that the e-tailer accepts a sale despite momentary unavailability, while undertaking to process it as soon as possible. This practice is common in sectors where flows are tight, or where products are subject to peaks in demand.
Performance or compatibility problems
Recourse to the backorder is often linked to production deadlines, supplier delays or flow synchronization problems. It can also arise when products are being updated or undergo logistical adjustments (e.g.: packaging changes, inventory recalibration).
In such cases, blocking the sale would be tantamount to losing a business opportunity. But without appropriate logistics tools, the backorder can become difficult to manage: forgotten orders, unreported delays, manual shipments, etc. To avoid this, it’s crucial to centralize and track logistics flows precisely.
Difference between backorder, pre-order and breakage
It is essential to distinguish the backorder from other related concepts:
- A pre-order refers to a product that has not yet been launched, but whose future release is planned (e.g. the release of a new smartphone).
- An out-of-stock condition means that the product is unavailable, with no known return date or immediate order possibility.
The backorder, on the other hand, comes into play when the product is part of the current catalog and replenishment is underway or planned. It is therefore an agile response to a temporary situation, enabling demand to be met without interrupting sales activity.
When to use the backorder?
Backorders aren’t just for large organizations with complex logistics flows. On the contrary, it can be a powerful growth lever for small and medium-sized e-businesses, when used strategically. Whether it’s to manage supply contingencies, streamline sales or protect the customer experience, this method provides flexibility without compromising satisfaction.
Anticipating restocking
In many situations, e-tailers know in advance that a product will be available again within a few days. This may be a standard supplier lead time, or a regularly scheduled restocking.
In this case, authorizing backorders ensures that sales are not interrupted, while clearly informing the customer of the additional delay. This approach relies on control of supply flows and the ability to monitor stock entries in real time. A high-performance OMS like the one offered by Shippingbo enables you to manage precisely these situations by automating order routing rules.
Maintain sales despite downtime
When a product is a victim of its own success, it can quickly run out of stock, particularly during a launch, a promotion or a period of high demand. Removing the product from the catalog in such cases is tantamount to putting the brakes on sales momentum.
By activating the backorder, the item remains visible and orderable, even if there is no immediate stock. This enables the company to maintain its competitive position, avoid loss of revenue and capitalize on the product’s popularity. All without having to overstock unnecessarily or compromise cash flow.
Preserving the customer experience
A well-communicated backorder preserves and even strengthens customer relations. Rather than announcing a sudden unavailability, you offer the customer the possibility of ordering with transparency on lead times. This approach shows that you have anticipated the situation and are in control of your logistics processes.
To achieve this, it is essential to inform customers at the time of purchase, tobring themforward in the processing of their deferred order, and to send them regular notifications. This is a winning strategy for building loyalty while limiting the negative impact of occasional unavailability.
The risks of a poorly managed backorder
Properly used, the backorder is a powerful lever for maintaining sales and reassuring customers. But poorly anticipated or executed, it can have the opposite effect: loss of confidence, overloaded teams, logistical errors. To reap the full benefits, it’s essential to control the risks involved. Here are the three main dangers to avoid.
Loss of customer confidence
Lack of transparency is one of the main reasons for dissatisfaction with a backorder. If the customer places an order without being informed of the lead time, or receives no update after payment, trust is quickly broken.
This situation leads to negative reviews, requests for refunds or outright abandonment of the brand. To avoid this, every deferred order must be clearly communicated, right from the product sheet, and then throughout processing. Customers need to feel informed, not abandoned.
Customer service overload
An uncontrolled backorder automatically generates a flood of requests for support. Where’s my order? Why haven’t I received a follow-up? What’s the actual lead time? These repetitive requests consume time and resources, to the detriment of strategic issues.
A good deferred order management system, such as OMS Shippingbo, enables you toautomate responses email confirmation, status update, shipping notification. The aim is to reduce friction and free up your customer service department for higher value-added tasks.
Cascading logistical problems
Without precise control, backorders quickly become an operational nightmare: confusion between orders, picking errors, shipping delays or untraceable partial parcels. These malfunctions accumulate, disrupting warehouses and impacting the entire supply chain.
The solution: centralized, automated management, which synchronizes stock data in real time, prioritizes deferred orders on receipt of restocking, and directs flows to the right warehouses. This is exactly what an integrated logistics solution like Shippingbo offers, with its WMS and OMS.
Best practices for managing backorders
Managing deferred orders is not something you can improvise. To transform the backorder into a tool for customer loyalty and logistics performance, you need to adopt the right reflexes from the moment the order is taken and throughout the entire handling process. Here are the best practices to put in place to ensure smooth, professional management, without frustration on the customer’s side.
Clear display on site
The starting point for a successful backorder is the information visible on the product sheet. The customer must immediately understand that the item is available as a backorder, with a realistic delivery estimate.
A simple visual insert or explicit message may suffice: “Available within 5 to 7 days” or “Shipping from May 12”. This kind of transparency prevents misunderstandings and encourages purchases even without immediate availability. The clearer the information, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.
Proactive communication
Informing is good. Anticipating questions is better. A good communication strategy can reduce the number of after-sales service requests and improve the post-purchase experience. Here’s what we recommend automating:
- Confirmation email clearly stating “order deferred” status.
- Update email as soon as the order is being prepared.
- Notification with tracking link once the package has been dispatched.
- Direct contact option to reassure waiting customers.
These messages must be clear, reassuring and adapted to the tone of your brand, while reflecting true professionalism.
Precise monitoring of flows and deadlines
Logistics tracking is the key to an efficient backorder. You need to be able to identify back-ordered products, track their status in the supply cycle, and process shipments as soon as they are received. Without this support, errors and oversights pile up.
An Order Management System (OMS) allows you to centralize all orders, synchronize stock in real time and automatically orchestrate shipments as soon as stock returns. With a tool like Shippingbo, you can ensure smooth, reliable management of backorders, without human overload.
Shippingbo, the solution for staying in control
Managing backorders without the right tools is like navigating an overloaded warehouse by sight. To avoid errors, delays and frustration, it’s essential to rely on a solution capable of centralizing flows, automating tasks and offering complete visibility in real time.
With Shippingbo, you have an OMS that intelligently orchestrates every order, even delayed ones. Your inventory is synchronized across all channels, shipments are triggered as soon as they are received, and your customers receive clear notifications at every stage. The result: fewer errors, less after-sales service, greater customer satisfaction.
The backorder becomes a performance lever, not an obstacle. By connecting your warehouses, sales channels and carriers to a single interface, you gain in responsiveness, reliability and competitiveness.
Don’t let backorders disrupt your logistics. Thanks to OMS, you can centralize your flows and deliver your customers on time, even in the event of backorders:
