Ordergroove places, sends your orders to your eCommerce platform, on a regular basis. This guide goes through your order placement settings and how to handle complications like out-of-stock and discontinued products.
Basic Out of Stock Management (OOS)
Out of Stock (OOS) management controls what Ordergroove does when a subscription order comes due and one or more items are marked out of stock in your product feed.
Ordergroove never places an order for an out-of-stock item on your eCommerce platform. If an item's product feed status is OOS on its scheduled order date, Ordergroove holds that item back. Nothing reaches your platform, so there is no order for your team to fulfill, cancel, or refund.
On the scheduled order date. If an order contains both OOS and in-stock items, Ordergroove splits them: the in-stock items are placed on your eCommerce platform as normal, and the OOS items are moved to a separate order that stays within Ordergroove.
For the next 30 days. Ordergroove rechecks the product feed once a day. If the item's status changes to in stock during that window, the order is placed on your eCommerce platform on that day's order run. Customers receive email communications on days 1, 15, and 30.
After 30 days. If the item is still OOS on day 30, Ordergroove cancels the order. This cancelation applies only to the order record inside Ordergroove. No order was ever placed on your eCommerce platform, so there is nothing to cancel on your side.
The subscription is not affected:
- The subscription stays active. Only the individual order containing the OOS items is canceled.
- The next order is already scheduled, based on the original order date plus the subscription frequency.
- The canceled order does not count toward the subscription's Disengaged cancelation threshold and does not appear in your Disengaged cancelation reporting.
If the subscription frequency is fewer than 30 days, the order containing the OOS items is canceled before the next scheduled order date.
Note: One-time items added through Instant Upsell (IU) do not go through the standard Out of Stock process. If a one-time Instant Upsell item is out of stock, that item is removed from the order and the remaining subscription items are processed without it.
For more information, take a look at the Out of Stock FAQ.
Discontinued Continuity
Discontinued Continuity — or Discontinued Silent/ Non-Silent — is when a product is discontinued, but a similar product will replace it in your catalog.
For example, beauty brands often have to discontinue products when there are packaging or minor formula changes. This will not affect the product as a whole but will require a new product ID and SKU. Instead of canceling the subscription, the merchant is given the option to swap the two products for the affected customers and can choose whether to notify the customer of the update via email. If pricing changes in both scenarios, the customer's subscription will reflect the updated price passed within the Product Feed on the customer’s Subscription Manager, CSA Dashboard, transactional emails, and within the order XML.
- Discontinued silent moves the customer to a new SKU without notifying them. The updated images and pricing for the new SKU will display in the Subscription Manager and transactional emails.
- Discontinued non-silent will notify the customer of the subscription change via a transactional email (if configured). The email will immediately alert the customer of the change and any new product details.
Note: Before discontinuation action begins, the product being discontinued needs to be marked as OOS and should be marked as auto-ship ineligible. If you do not mark the product as OOS before discontinuation, the update will fail. You can manage this within Ordergroove and your product configuration file. To access this tool, use the navigation bar to visit Products > Configure. On this page, you can download your Ordergroove Product Catalog configurations.
Combination Savings
Combine orders by defining a sensitivity (e.g., five days) within which the next order closest in date will be merged with the current order before placement on the e-commerce platform. This feature helps reduce shipping costs and will merge orders at the time of the Order Reminder email.
For more information take a look at the Combination Savings article.
Inventory Forecasting
Using the on-demand inventory report available within Ordergroove, you can review a projection of future orders based on subscribers’ first upcoming order dates. The specified date range can extend to 90 days to assist with inventory planning and revenue projection.
Order Placement Hours
Ordergroove places orders daily into your e-commerce platform for all subscription records due based on their set frequency. You can select every hour or define specific hours in the day they want orders placed. Be aware that all times are in CST.
Common Questions
We have a few FAQ articles for common questions, take a look at:
- Order Placement and Management FAQ for general questions
- Out of Stock FAQ for OOS-specific questions