When running a pre-order campaign, managing how and when orders appear in your Shopify admin is crucial for a smooth shipping process. The Delivery Fulfillment Trigger allows you to automate whether orders are ready for shipping immediately, held for a later date, or split between in-stock and pre-order items.
In this article, we’ll cover the three main fulfillment triggers and the Split Mixed Orders feature.
1. Fulfillment Immediately
This is the default setting. When a customer completes a checkout, the order is sent to Shopify with the status "Unfulfilled."
Best for: Stores that want to see all orders in their standard fulfillment queue immediately.
New Feature: Split Mixed Orders Fulfillment
If a customer buys a "Pre-order" item and an "In-stock" item in the same transaction, you can now choose how they are grouped:Unchecked: All items (pre-order and in-stock) are grouped into one fulfillment card in Shopify.
Checked (Recommended): The order is automatically split into two separate fulfillment groups within the same order.
Group 1: In-stock items (Ready to ship).
Group 2: Pre-order items.
Note: A single shipping rate still applies to the whole order, but splitting them allows you to ship the available items now and the pre-order items later without manual editing.
2. Fulfillment Date Up to You (On-Hold)
When this option is selected, orders are marked with an "On-hold" status in Shopify. They will stay in this state until you manually transition them to "Unfulfilled."
Best for: When you don’t have a confirmed shipping date yet and want to prevent your warehouse from accidentally shipping pre-orders too early.
Automatic Splitting: By default, this option splits mixed orders. In-stock items will appear as "Unfulfilled" (ready to ship), while pre-order items will be "On-hold."
3. Fulfillment on an Exact Time (Scheduled)
This allows you to set a specific date and time in the future. On that date, the order status will automatically change from "Scheduled" to "Unfulfilled."
Best for: Product drops or launches with a fixed release date.
Automatic Splitting: Like the "On-Hold" option, this automatically splits mixed orders. In-stock items are ready immediately, while pre-order items are "Scheduled" for your chosen release date.
How Split Orders Look in Shopify
When Split mixed orders fulfillment is active, your Shopify order page will look like this:
Standard Fulfillment Card: Contains your in-stock items ready for a shipping label.
Pre-order Fulfillment Card: Contains the items with the _purchase_type: NM-preorder property.
This separation ensures your inventory counts remain accurate and your fulfillment team knows exactly what needs to go out the door today versus what is reserved for the future.
Summary Table: Which setting should I choose?
Trigger | Shopify Status | Mixed Order Behavior |
Immediately | Unfulfilled | Optional split (via checkbox) |
Up to You | On-hold | Automatically split |
Exact Time | Scheduled | Automatically split |
Need help setting up your fulfillment flow? Contact our support team via the chat bubble in the app!