From the shop floor

Notes on running special orders

Everything we work out about special orders in independent retail, written down. No newsletter wall, no gated PDFs. The useful part is the page itself.

October 13, 2026 · 7 min read

What to tell a furniture customer during a 12-week wait

A 12-week furniture special order needs more than a call when it arrives. Here are the points in the wait where the customer actually needs to hear from you.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
October 6, 2026 · 6 min read

What most special-order spreadsheets forget to track

A special order spreadsheet works fine as a tool. Most of them are missing the six columns that keep one order from going quiet before pickup.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
- Point of sale
September 29, 2026 · 6 min read

Special order vs backorder vs pre-order: the difference

A backorder is stock you already carry that ran out. A pre-order sells before the item exists. A special order is bought for one named customer from the start.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
September 24, 2026 · 10 min read

The 7 best special order software tools for retailers (2026)

Seven special order tools compared from their own documentation: what each tracks, whether it tells the customer, and what it costs. Read September 2026.
- Special orders
- Software
- Point of sale
September 22, 2026 · 7 min read

The phone call you make when a special order is late

What to say when a special order runs late: name what happened, what you've done about it, and the choice the customer gets: wait, swap or refund.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
September 22, 2026 · 7 min read

When to take a deposit on a special order, and how much

Not every special order needs a deposit. The ones that do need an amount tied to what you'd actually lose, not a round number picked out of habit.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
September 20, 2026 · 6 min read

When a vendor ships a special order short

You ordered nine and six arrived. Who gets the six, why no POS decides it for you, and what to tell the three special order customers who go without.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
- Point of sale
September 19, 2026 · 5 min read

Where each POS stops handling a special order

A special order travels six stages from counter to pickup. Shopify, Lightspeed and WooCommerce each give up partway, and stage 04 (the arrival) fails silently.
- Special orders
- Retail operations
- Point of sale

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