Order New on the iPad: selling a fresh one without giving up the floor model

The customer loves the walnut credenza on the floor. Just not that one: it has a showroom scuff and a fine collection of fingerprints. The associate chooses Order New on the iPad, and the display stays exactly where it is. It has another afternoon of looking effortless ahead of it.

Order New records the sale as a fresh unit to buy, rather than taking the unit already in the showroom. The useful part comes after the tap: purchasing can find the commitment, receiving can hold the arriving piece for the customer, and the associate can see how it will leave the store.

Choose the source before promising the piece

The stock source answers which physical unit will satisfy the sale. OrderPilot's product picker shows stock at the current location and elsewhere, and the item can use This location, Other location, or Order New. Ask the customer whether they want the actual display before treating “I'll take it” as an instruction to sell that unit.

“Would you like this display piece, or shall we order a fresh one?” is usually enough. If the customer wants the display, agree its condition and price. If they want a fresh one, the number on the showroom's shelf is no longer the answer to their delivery question. Another location's stock can be a good middle ground when the display must stay and the customer needs the piece sooner. Follow the other-location stock guide so the transaction follows the location supplying the goods.

Keep an incoming commitment out of available stock

An Order New line uses the named made-to-order destination the store has set up as its on-order location. That location carries the incoming commitment while the physical unit is still to be purchased or received. The showroom display is not consumed to represent a sofa or cabinet that has yet to arrive.

Think of the location as the address for the promise in your records. It is not a rack of sellable furniture. Associates should not interpret an incoming quantity as stock available for another customer to take away. The distinction matters most when a popular floor model generates several orders in the same weekend.

The customer-facing promise also needs its own wording. “Ordered new in walnut; estimated arrival after vendor confirmation” tells the next colleague more than “same as floor.” Record the agreed delivery expectation in the customer communication, especially where the vendor has not yet accepted the order.

Buy the unit through the PO workbench

The Order New line flows into the PO workbench under its vendor. Purchasing can build the purchase order from that sold line, choose the destination, and send the vendor an email with the PO PDF. The piece is attached to a customer commitment rather than floating in a buyer's notebook.

Destination is a practical decision. A warehouse may be the right place for inspection and delivery preparation. A showroom may receive a small cabinet directly. Dropship arrangements need the vendor and customer to understand who receives the goods and who handles an exception. Choose the route that matches the actual shipment. Before release, purchasing establishes the vendor's availability and expected shipment. Keep the vendor's answer with the PO conversation where reply capture is configured, or attach the supporting correspondence. The associate can then give the customer an answer based on an accepted purchase, rather than the date remembered from the last order.

Receive the fresh unit and keep it for its customer

Receiving turns the incoming commitment into physical stock. Record the quantity that actually arrived at a subscribed location, distinguish accepted goods from rejected goods, and inspect the piece before it enters the delivery queue. A box at the dock is an arrival; an undamaged credenza in the right finish is a successful receipt.

The received unit is held for its customer order. If it landed at the warehouse and belongs at the showroom, staff can move it to the order's location. That movement must agree with what the warehouse actually does. Avoid telling a customer that a piece is ready for showroom pickup while it is still wrapped across town. The guide to stock held for customer orders explains why receiving a sold piece does not make it spare stock. Record freight and other receiving charges too; the landed-cost guide carries those costs into the unit's economics.

Set handover independently of the source

The source and the handover answer different questions. At the register, Pickup or Delivery? lets staff establish Today, Pick up later, or Delivery for each unit. Order New answers where the unit comes from; the handover choice answers how the customer will receive it once it is ready.

A fresh piece that has not arrived cannot leave today. A customer can, however, take an in-stock accessory home and wait for the credenza on the same sale. Describe both promises plainly and record the actual collection or delivery when it happens. Payment alone does not mean the furniture has left the store.

Follow a credenza through the whole sale

Say a customer orders one fresh walnut credenza and takes a stocked lamp home; this is an illustrative order. The credenza's display remains on the floor. The lamp uses This location and Today. The credenza uses Order New and Delivery, with the promised timing recorded after the vendor's response.

Purchasing sends the credenza PO to the vendor with the warehouse as its destination. Receiving accepts the correct unit, records its costs, and keeps it held for this order. Delivery staff then arrange the customer handover. The floor model never becomes a temporary stand-in for the incoming piece, and the lamp's departure does not complete the credenza.

If the credenza arrives damaged, receiving records the exception and purchasing works with the vendor. The associate updates the customer from that same order. The original display remains a separate piece the manager may offer if that becomes a useful, explicitly agreed alternative.

Set up the choice before the next busy Saturday

Prepare the store's locations and staff language before making Order New part of the floor routine:

1. Create the on-order location in Shopify with a name your team recognizes.
2. Select it as the on-order destination in OrderPilot's Quotes & orders settings, under Delivery & stock.
3. Decide which subscribed locations receive goods and how warehouse receipts reach the selling showroom.
4. Give sales staff a simple script for display, other-location stock, and a fresh purchase.
5. Assign purchasing responsibility for reviewing new commitments and reporting vendor exceptions.

Without that destination, Order New is unavailable and explains why. Finish the setup rather than using the showroom unit to make the screen proceed. Staff should be able to identify the source, purchasing owner, and customer promise without asking the original associate to remember the conversation.

Resolve the exceptions while the customer still has choices

Order New applies to tracked catalog items, not configured templates or bundles. Made-to-order template lines already follow purchasing for the customer's selected configuration. A fresh version of a catalog credenza and a sofa with chosen fabric can share an order, but they reach purchasing through their respective product flows.

If the vendor's lead time is longer than expected, explain the revised timing before treating it as accepted. Offer the available alternatives, record the customer's decision, and update the agreement if the product, price, or other customer-facing terms change. A promised date needs a conversation when it changes.

Payment can follow the store's agreed schedule: Admin deposit orders work on any Shopify plan when enabled before placement, while native percentage terms and OrderPilot's POS Take Deposit require Shopify Plus. Set the payment arrangement before sending the customer to checkout. The iPad closing workflow follows configuration, signing, and payment together.

Sometimes the customer decides the display is exactly what they want after all. Make that a deliberate change of source and condition agreement, using the floor-model handoff guide. A clear source lets the showroom stay full while every sold piece has somewhere definite to come from.

Sources

1. OrderPilot product walkthrough — Stock destinations, Showroom selling, Stock by configuration, and Linked purchase orders. No external industry figures are used.