Managing increased sales

Although too many sales is often referred to as "the best problem to have", it's still something a business needs to manage to keep their customers happy.

There are many solutions to this problem, but only some will apply to your situation. Review the strategies below to check if any make sense for your business.

Limit orders

Limiting the amount of sales that you allow in a day helps keep your orders to a manageable level. This can also make your products feel more exclusive, which can help with marketing and branding.

Another solution is to limit the amount of products a customer can order in one cart.

However, limiting orders can also cause customer frustration. If you limit your orders in any way, then make sure that the limit is clear to your customers, they understand why they can't place an order, and you provide steps on how they might be able to place one in the future. You can let customers know about the limit through a banner on your homepage, a paragraph on your product pages, or a page on your website that you can add to your store's menus.

Choose from one of the following solutions to limit orders.

Manually remove your Add to cart button

After you receive your preferred amount of orders in a day, you can remove the Add to cart button on your store. The steps to remove the Add to cart buttons depend on the type of theme you use:

• If you use a Shopify-supported Online Store 2.0 theme, then refer to Hide Add to cart buttons.
• If you use a vintage Shopify theme, and you're comfortable adding and removing code, then refer to this version of Hide Add to cart buttons.
• If you use a third-party theme, then contact the theme's developer or a third-party developer.

Make sure to add the button back at the start of your next day, or whenever you are ready to take more orders.

Manually adjust your shipping zones

After you receive your preferred amount of orders in a day, you can prevent customers from placing orders for physical products by removing their ability to choose shipping rates. If a customer can't choose a shipping rate, then they can't place an order.

An additional way to let customers know about this limitation is to change your theme's error message when no available shipping rates are available in your checkout.

Caution

Some apps and sales channels require specific shipping settings. Before changing your shipping rates, make sure that removing your rates won't break your connections to your apps and sales channels.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. For each shipping profile, including your general shipping rates, remove the rates in each shipping zone:

   1. Next to the shipping profile, click Manage.
   2. Next to each shipping rate in each zone, click the ... button, and then click Delete. Don't delete your zones.
   3. Click Save.

3. Optional: Adjust your theme's error message when no shipping rates are available:

   1. Go to Online Store > Themes.
   2. Click the ... button > Edit default theme content.
   3. Click the Checkout and system tab.
   4. Search for and edit the No rates for country notice and Shipping method not available fields.
   5. Click Save.

Make sure you add your shipping rates back at the start of your next day, or whenever you are ready to take more orders.

When you remove your shipping zones, let customers know that you are no longer taking sales for the day. Consider adding a banner to your website so customers know not to try placing an order for the rest of the day.

Set your inventory levels to a daily maximum

If you know how much of each products' inventory you can manage each day, then you can set your inventory each morning to that amount. If you also set your products to not allow overselling, then customers can't place orders after the inventory runs out.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Inventory.
2. Set your products to stop selling when they're sold out:
   1. Click the top checkbox to select all products on the page.
   2. If you have more than 50 products in your store, then click Select all inventory in this store.
   3. Click Bulk edit > Columns > Continue selling when out of stock to add that column to the bulk editor.
   4. Ensure that your products in the Continue selling when out of stock column are unchecked.
   5. Click Save.
3. Set your inventory levels:
   • If you have only a few pages of products, then set the inventory levels for each product in the admin:
     1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Inventory.
     2. Edit the available quantity to the amount that you can sell in one day.
     3. Click Save.
   • If you have many pages of products, then set the inventory levels using a CSV file:
     1. Click Export. If you export up to one page of products (up to 50 products), then the CSV file is downloaded by your browser. If you export more than one page of products (51 or more products), then the CSV file is emailed to you. If you aren't the store owner, then the file is sent to the store owner's email as well.
     2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet program, such as Google Sheets.
     3. Make a copy of the file. You will need the original file to upload to your Shopify store when you want to restore the original inventory levels.
     4. In your copied file, set the inventory for each product and variant, and save the file.
     5. In your Shopify admin, go to Products > Inventory.
     6. Click Import.
     7. Add the updated CSV file, and click Upload file.

When your inventory runs out for a product, customers can't place any more orders for those products. To help customers know when your products become available again, consider installing an app that lets customers opt in to receive an email when you add inventory back to those products. To browse available apps, refer to the Shopify App Store.

Set your inventory levels to zero

After you receive your preferred amount of orders in a day, you can prevent customers from placing orders by removing the inventory for each of your products.

For this method to work, make sure that you don't have any settings in your theme, conditions in your collections, or apps in your store that hide out-of-stock products. If you hide out-of-stock products and set your inventory levels to zero, then customers can't view any products on your website. You also need to make sure your product settings prevent customers from purchasing out-of-stock products.

Caution

Some apps and sales channels require specific inventory settings. Before changing your inventory policies and amounts, make sure that it won't break your connections to your apps and sales channels.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Inventory.
2. Set your products to stop selling when they're sold out:
   1. Click the top checkbox to select all products on the page.
   2. If you have more than 50 products in your store, then click Select all inventory in this store.
   3. Click Bulk edit > Columns > Continue selling when out of stock to add that column to the bulk editor.
   4. Ensure that your products in the Continue selling when out of stock column are unchecked.
   5. Click Save.
3. Set your inventory levels to zero:
   • If you have only a few pages of products, then set the inventory levels to 0 in the admin:
     1. Click the top checkbox to select all products on the page.
     2. Click Update quantities.
     3. Click Set and enter 0, and then click Save.
     4. Repeat these steps for each page of products.
   • If you have many pages of products, then set the inventory levels to 0 using a CSV file:
     1. Click Export. If you export up to one page of products (up to 50 products), then the CSV file is downloaded by your browser. If you export more than one page of products (51 or more products), then the CSV file is emailed to you. If you aren't the store owner, then the file is sent to the store owner's email as well.
     2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet program, such as Google Sheets.
     3. Make a copy of the file. You will need the original file to upload to your Shopify store when you want to restore the original inventory levels.
     4. In your copied file, set the inventory for each product and variant to be 0 and save the file.
     5. In your Shopify admin, go to Products > Inventory.
     6. Click Import.
     7. Add the updated CSV file, and click Upload file.

When you want to restore the original inventory, upload the original CSV file that you downloaded.

If you remove your inventory, then consider installing an app that lets customers opt in to receive an email when you add inventory back to the product. To browse available apps, refer to the Shopify App Store.

Add a cart maximum app

A cart maximum app can help limit the amount of products a customer can add to their cart in one order.

Steps:

1. Go to the Shopify App Store.
2. Find the app that best fits your business.
3. Click Add app.
4. Follow the app's installation instructions.

Prepare for an increase in support requests

An increase in orders often leads to an increase in support requests. Using a customer service platform where you can build template emails, or macros, can help you manage your support effectively. Being proactive in answering potential support questions in an FAQ on your website is also a good way to manage your support requests. FAQs help customers get answers quickly, and gives you a URL to provide during support interactions where customers can learn more information.

Customer service platforms

There are many customer service platforms available, and some can be found in the Shopify App Store. These integrate directly with Shopify and can be an effect way to manage your support requests.

Create templates for common questions, such as shipping updates, refund requests, or product queries. Set up an automated reply that contains expected response times and instructions on what to do if a customer don't hear back within that timeframe.

Build an FAQ page

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Pages.
2. Click Add page.
3. Add a title, and fill out the content of the page.

Tip

Using Heading 2 or Heading 3 formatting for the questions in your FAQ page helps people using screen readers navigate your content.

1. Click Save.

To add the FAQ page to your website's menu, refer to Add a menu item.

Download an FAQ app

Apps can help you build extensive FAQ pages with unique features, such as search functionality and tabbed layouts. If you want to use an app to create an FAQ page, then visit the Shopify App Store.

Set appropriate shipping expectations

Make sure you let customers know when they can expect their orders to arrive. Setting the correct expectations can reduce the amount of support requests that you receive, increase trust in your brand, and help customers feel secure in placing orders from your business.

You can add a banner to your website, create a new page, or add a shipping policy to your online store so that customers can find your shipping information.

Use a fulfillment facility

If you find that packing and shipping your orders is causing the biggest delays, then consider working with a local warehouse. You can add them as a custom fulfillment service so that they receive your orders through email, and can package and ship your orders on your behalf.

If you sell in the United States, then consider applying for the Shopify Fulfillment Network.

Use Shopify Shipping

If you are in Canada or the United States, then you can use Shopify Shipping to print shipping labels at home and request the shipping carrier to come pick up your shipments when they're ready to be mailed out. This can save you time driving to and from the post office, and provides cheaper shipping rates than those at the post office. For more information, refer to Managing shipping entirely from your home or business.

Hire new employees

Hiring new employees to perform certain tasks for your business can save you time in your day, and combined with the expertise that new staff often bring to the table, this can more than offset the payroll costs. For example, if packaging your products takes four hours out of your day, then consider how many new orders you could process and accept if you freed up those four hours.

When running an online store, many jobs can be done remotely. Marketing, website design, customer support, and website management can be done from anywhere, letting you hire people from around the globe.

You can add staff to your Shopify store, and use staff permissions to give them access only to the areas of the admin that they need.

To start, consider looking for freelance workers so that you can explore what benefits they might bring to your business.