Pretail information

Pretail (also referred to as pre-tail, pre-retail, pre-launch, or pre-commerce) is a sub-category of e-commerce and online retail for introducing new products, services, and brands to market by pre-launching online, from creating an interest waitlist of signups before launch to collecting reservations or pre-orders in limited quantity before release, realization, or commercial availability.^[1] Pretail allows new product ideas/prototypes to be mass produced only when they have reached an initial threshold of buy-in from investors/consumers. ^[2] Pretail includes pre-sale commerce, pre-order retailers, pre-launch marketing services, incubation marketplaces,  crowdfunding communities, and demand chain management systems.

Pretail results in marketing efficiency, margin efficiency (cutting down on the middlemen like physical retailers or distributors), and product efficiency (getting direct feedback from potential customers fosters innovation and eliminates guesswork).^[2]

Retailers today are increasingly pretailing to test, promote, and monetize consumer demand in the initial phase of the new commerce pipeline as first introduced in a 2012 Forbes article.^[2] Some examples are: Tesla’s model 3 pre-order or VR gaming headset Oculus Rift funded through Kickstarter. Consumers engaging in pretail are known as an early adopter, fan, backer, supporter, or presumer (pre-launch consumer).