U.S. suppliers in Supplier One can now provide attributes related to preorders during item setup and maintenance – for a single item at a time directly in the platform or by using the bulk item setup/maintenance spreadsheets. Previously, Merchants had to work with our Preorder Execution team to set up and maintain preorder items.

Here are answers to frequently asked questions about preorder items.

Preorder Setup and Maintenance

1. How do I set up preorders?

Refer to this article. The four attributes required to set up preorder items are: Is Preorder, Release Date, Site Start Date, and Site Start Time.

2. How can I manage preorders?

When managing preorders, there are several critical components that must be taken into account. First, you can create or update a product by modifying four key attributes: Is Preorder, Release Date, Site Start Date, and Site Start Time.

• The Release Date is the precise date on which the product will be ready for distribution to customers.
• The Site Start Date and Site Start Time refer to the exact date and time when the product will be available for purchase on the site. It is important to note that these attributes are based on the Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) timezone.

3. How can I troubleshoot submitting a preorder?

Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind:

• If Is Preorder is set to yes, you must provide a Release Date.
• If you provide a Site Start Time, then the Is Preorder field will automatically be set to yes. Additionally, Site Start Date will be required.
• Site Start Time is formatted as hh:mm:ss format in the spreadsheet. If managing the preorder directly in Supplier One, the attribute is formatted as hh:mm AM/PM (in UTC timezone).
  • Use a timezone converter as needed to ensure your Site Start Time is accurate.
• Not all item types are supported for preorders at this time.
  • Supported: Omni DSV, Omni Maintenance, Omni Shared General Merchandise, Omni Online Item
  • Unsupported: Omni DSD General Merchandise, Omni Shared Fresh, Omni eDelivery DSV, Omni eDelivery Owned Item, Omni DSD Fresh

4. What happens if I edit an existing preorder?

When managing preorders, there may be products that were set up before the launch of the new preorder setup/management process.

• If preorder setup or maintenance occurs after July 12 on an existing product in the Catalog, then the product will transition to the new preorder management process.

5. Can I change the preorder Release Date or Inventory Availability Date (IAD)?

You can change the Release Date by using a Product Content & Site Experience maintenance spreadsheet or going to the Product Offer & Overview in the Catalog to maintain a single item at a time.

Download a DSV Inventory maintenance spreadsheet to change the Inventory Availability Date.

6. How can I track preorder submissions?

When you create or maintain a preorder item, go to the Submission manager to view and track the status. Your submission will be assigned to a Merchant for review.

• If your Merchant approves your changes, your submitted values will be applied to the product.
• If your Merchant declines your changes, your new changes will not be applied to the product. This means that existing products will retain their existing values for the preorder attributes.

7. I've created my item successfully, but it is not published due to not having a tax code applied. How do I fix this?

Your Merchant should file a ticket to have the tax code manually applied. They need to complete the escalation template and attach it to the ticket.

8. How is the customer promise date determined? 

For owned and DSV items, Inventory Arrival Date (IAD) and shipping times are used to determine customer promise date. IAD + shipping times = promise date. The date promised to customer will be the release date or the calculated promise, whichever is later. 

• For example: Release date for your item is 8/7/2024 and you/your Merchant have set the IAD as 8/4/2024. Internal teams have calculated the ship time as 2 days (8/4/2024 + 2 days = 8/6/2024). As this date is before the release date, the customer sees 8/7/2024 as the promise date.

Preorder Setup via Walmart API

1. Where can I learn more about the API submission experience for DSV inventory and preorders?

Refer to DSV Inventory FAQs for more information about DSV inventory APIs.

API support for preorders is coming later this year. Guides and reference materials will be available on our Walmart Developer Portal.

DSV Inventory for Preorders

1. How can I manage and track DSV inventory updates?

For DSV items only, you can manage preorders utilizing the Maintenance Hub > DSV Inventory workflow to update item-facility details including the following key attributes:

• Inventory Availability Date (IAD): The expected date (YYYY-MM-DD) that a DSV supplier will have inventory available to ship. Required for preorder items when Quantity (In-Transit Inventory) is provided. Leave blank for non-preorder items.
• Quantity (In-Transit Inventory): The number of units currently in transit to a DSV supplier. Required for preorder items when Inventory Availability Date is provided. Leave blank for non-preorder items.
• Quantity (On-Hand Inventory): The number of available units a DSV supplier has on hand to sell, including the number of units in the process of shipping (e.g. 100).

Business Use Cases

DSV suppliers must move In-Transit Quantity to On-Hand Quantity when the Inventory Availability Date is today. Additionally, they must provide a new Inventory Availability Date if there is a delay.

1. If you are only providing the Inventory Availability Date and Quantity (In-Transit Inventory), you should leave the Availability Code blank.
2. If you are providing the Inventory Availability Date, Quantity (In-Transit Inventory) AND Quantity (On Hand Inventory), select "AC" as the Availability Code.
3. If you have inventory on hand available to sell and are only providing Quantity (On Hand Inventory), select "AC" as the Availability Code.

To track DSV inventory updates, go to the Submission manager in Supplier One and click the Ship node tab. Additionally, the DSV Facility Overview in the Catalog provides an overview of inventory information for a product, including: Is Preorder, Quantity (On-Hand Inventory), Quantity (In-Transit Inventory), and Inventory Availability Date.

To view your DSV orders, click Order Management in the left navigation of Supplier One.

2. Do I need to confirm inventory prior to release date?

You, the supplier, and your Merchant need to ensure that inventory arrives by your Must Arrive By Date (MABD) so that it moves out of “in transit” status and is available to ship.

3. My inventory will not arrive on-time to fulfill orders. Do I need update anything?

For inbound PO delays, Merchants should adjust the Must Arrive By Date (MABD) instead of the Release Date. Suppliers can make these changes as well; however, supplier submissions within the 2-week timeframe leading up to release will require the Merchant's approval. 

Preorders and POs

1. Can my Merchant add more POs?

NOVA is where POs are added for FCs.

2. Can I put my item on preorder if I don't have inbound POs?

You can set up the preorder item, but it will not be published online until the PO info is provided. Once the PO info is uploaded in NOVA and flows into our inventory systems, the item will be published and available on Walmart.com.

3. Can we prioritize inbound POs?

FCs will not have any indication that preorder freight should be prioritized as it will have a normal event code. For high-impact or high-priority requests, Merchants should create a ticket with the inbound POs to request the loads be made a priority. This should not be necessary if the POs are expected to arrive on or before the MABD.

4. Where can I view my DSV orders?

Click Order Management in the left navigation of Supplier One to view DSV orders.

5. Before the change to the new process, my preorder customer orders were sent to me when they were created (placed?). I’m no longer seeing these come through to my system in real time.

Orders are now being held by Walmart until 1 day before Estimated Ship Date. Suppliers can view orders in real time in Supplier One. Details on visibility can be found in this Supplier One Order Management - DSV HelpDoc. 

Preorders in the Catalog

1. Where can I review all preorders?

You can customize the data in the Supplier One Catalog to view preorders relevant to you. For example, customize the item card view to display the Release Date. You can also apply filters for a Release Date Range and Is Preorder to quickly narrow down your list of items and preorder products.

Additionally, you can view the DSV Facility Overview in Supplier One. This provides an overview of inventory information for a product, including: Is Preorder, Quantity (On-Hand Inventory), Quantity (In-Transit Inventory), and Inventory Availability Date.

Preorders on Walmart.com

1. How does this new preorder item setup/maintenance process impact the customer experience on Walmart.com?

Enhancements to the customers' preorder item experience include:

• Displaying a "Preorder" badge for improved clarity.
• Providing the Estimated Delivery Date (EDD), which is the date a customer can expect to receive their order.
• Improved communications when there is a price change, cancellation, or change to the EDD or Release Date on the preorder item.

2. Why is my item still showing OOS on the site?

Please work with your Merchant.

3. How do I prevent oversells or bulk buys?

Please work with your Merchant.

Preorder Support

1. How do I get support if I run into issues with preorder item setup or maintenance?

File tickets in Supplier One.

2. Can I release orders as soon as all the inventory has arrived (i.e., early preorder release)?

Orders will be systematically released the day before the Release Date regardless of whether we received inventory sooner than expected or not. If you or the vendor would like to release the orders as soon as all of the inventory has arrived, your Merchant can create a ticket about completing the preorder release process as soon as we see your request.

• Please work with your Merchant to ensure we have full live inventory before sending the request.
  • For Owned items, SIM's Item View has ship node inventory counts. Merchants should use this rather than GSCOPE, iSAM, or Atom.
  • For DSV items, please confirm that the DSV has received and processed inventory.
• If there are specific items within a preorder that need to be released or left alone, please specify this in the request as well.

3. Can I cancel a preorder?

There are a few factors we need to consider before we cancel a preorder. If we received inventory, then you may be looking for "Early Preorder Release" (please see the previous question and answer). Canceling a preorder is doable; however, if there are any orders captured in the time from when the preorder is set up to now, we would be required to cancel the customer orders. This is obviously something that we don't want to do – especially if there are a lot of orders captured. Please be certain that there is no inventory arriving before sending a cancel request. You may also consider updating the Release Date (see below). 

• To send a cancel request, your Merchant will need to create a ticket:
  • If there are specific items within a preorder that need to be released or left alone, please specify this in the request as well.
  • By sending this request, you are acknowledging that any orders placed for the preorder will be canceled.

4. Why are my units not in ATS yet at the FC?

• Confirm that all units were shipped that were promised.
• Merchants can check with the Preorder Execution team to see if units can be prioritized if they are sitting on the yard.
• Have the carriers categorize these as LIVE LOADS if possible before they get to the FC.

5. What’s the escalation process if I filed a case ticket and have not received resolution? 

• File tickets in Supplier One. If additional assistance is needed, please provide the ticket information along with your Submission IDs to your Merchant partners to escalate.