When products are added into inventory, they can now be marked with a "preorder status". This allows items to be added to sends even when there isn't currently inventory of those products.
A typical use case for this would gathering order data, such as sizing or color of an item, to have a better and more accurate understanding of how much of those items should be ordered. This is specifically helpful when larger bulk orders of products are occurring.
When adding a new physical item to your inventory, simple toggle the "Enable Preorder" to "On".
Once uploaded, you'll be able to identify those products in your inventory if you see this icon:
A green clock with a box behind it will appear in the upper left hand corner of your product.
Within the inventory screen, you'll be able to filter by preorder status as well.
Scenario example: A company is celebrating the holidays at the end of the year and wants to give all 5,000 global employees a gift. Since this is their first larger order, they're unsure or hesitant about what sizes they should order ahead of time. Using the preorder function, this allows them to collect data via an IEX send.