Plan a product launch

Enhanced plan

A product you have never sold has no history to forecast from. This guide takes you through a launch plan from start to finish: you model the new product on similar products, check and adjust its launch curve, confirm the plan so it feeds the forecast, and order the launch stock. For every option along the way, see New Product Planning.

Before you start

Your shop is on the Enhanced or Elevate plan.
The new product exists in Shopify, so you can pick it.
You know two to five similar products: products you already sell that the new one should sell like, ideally with a year of sales behind them. The previous model, the same cut in another colour, or last season’s bestseller in the range are good picks.
If the product comes in sizes, read Plan sizes together with a size group too.

Steps

Go to Inventory Planning › New Product Planning and click Create New Product Plan.
In Plan Details, give the plan a name and pick the Launch locations: the stores or warehouses the product goes on sale at.
In Launch & Horizon, set the Default launch date (the day it goes on sale) and a Horizon. The default of 5 months covers the launch and the weeks after it.
In Individual products, click Add products › Browse products and pick the new product. If you pick several sizes of one product, choose Group by size or Keep separate.
Open the product’s Similar products, click Add similar product › Browse products and pick the products it should sell like. Raise the Weight of the one that fits best, if one does.
Leave Feed into forecast on and click Create plan. The plan opens on its Plan tab, in Draft.
Check the projected demand chart and the Week grid. On a plan with several locations, look at each location in the switcher: each one is built from what the similar products sold there.
Adjust where needed. Change Volume × on the Volume & launch tab to plan more or less overall, type over single weeks in the Week grid, and click Save. To change its similar products, their weights or History from, pick a single location in the switcher and open the product’s panel: the same Save above the table saves those too. See Similar products & the launch curve.
Click Confirm. The plan now feeds your forecast, and the badge on its Details card reads Feeds forecast: the new product’s planned demand shows up in your forecast views and their reorder suggestions. See Plans in the forecast.
Open Actions › Create purchase order, set the Coverage window (days) and click Create draft PO (with one PO per location at two stores, Create 2 draft POs). Set the supplier on the draft PO and send it. See Ordering for a launch.
Once the product is on sale, follow it on the Analytics tab. When the launch is over, click Complete: the plan stops feeding the forecast and the product is forecast from its own sales from then on.

Worked example

You’re launching a merino hoodie at your Berlin and Hamburg stores on Mar 1, 2027. You expect it to sell like your two cotton hoodies, but a little better, because merino is your bestselling range.

You create the plan with both stores as launch locations, a launch date of Mar 1, 2027 and a 5-month horizon. You add the merino hoodie and pick both cotton hoodies as similar products at weight 1. The plan opens with a curve at each store: Hamburg’s is lower, because the cotton hoodies sold less there.

On the Volume & launch tab you set Volume × to 1.2 at both stores. In the Week grid you raise the launch week at Berlin, where an opening event is planned, and click Save. You confirm the plan, create one PO per location with a 56-day coverage window, set the supplier on both drafts and send them.

Common failure modes

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
The curve is flat at zero	The product has no similar products, or they had no sales at that location or in their history window.	Add similar products that sold there, set History from to All locations, or move History start. See Choosing the history window.
One location plans nothing	The similar products never sold at that location.	Pick that location and change History from, or plan its weeks by hand.
The forecast doesn’t show the launch	The plan is still Draft, or Feed into forecast is off. Its badge reads Not feeding forecast.	Confirm the plan. Switch Feed into forecast on in Edit details.
Create purchase order is greyed out	”Plan is Completed” or “Plan is Cancelled”, “Add a product first”, or “Save or discard your changes first”.	Reopen a Completed plan. Add a product. Save or discard your changes on the Plan tab, then order. A Locked plan can order.
Create draft PO is greyed out in the dialog	”No variant has a positive order quantity in this window.”: with Cover from on Today, your stock on hand and on order already covers the window.	Nothing needs ordering yet. Make the Coverage window (days) longer to order further ahead.
The PO quantity looks too high	With Cover from on Launch, the order covers the plan’s demand from the launch date and doesn’t subtract stock you already have or have on order.	Choose Today once the product is selling, shorten the coverage window, or lower the lines on the draft PO.
A size group’s settings changed back	You left the page or clicked Discard before Save & rebuild in the group panel.	Change them again in the group panel and click Save & rebuild.
My week edits are gone	Rebuild forecasts, Reset to suggested forecast or a change of similar products rebuilt the curve.	Rebuilding always replaces week edits. Change similar products first, then edit weeks.