Run a product drop: countdowns, early access and launch pages

A drop is a promise with a date: this collection, this many pieces, this moment. Done well, it turns a launch into an event that shoppers wait for, sign up for and come back for. Done badly, with a countdown that resets itself or a date that slips, it teaches them not to believe you.

Selvedge's drop tools are built on one rule: the countdown always counts to a real date that you set, and it never restarts or invents urgency. When the date arrives, the page changes on its own. This guide takes you from the first teaser to the day after.

The two ways to run a drop

You can combine them: a closed store before your first launch, then the Drop launch section for every drop after.

Step 1: plan the date

Pick the release date and time before anything else, and keep it. Write it down with your time zone.

Then decide:

• What is in the drop: the products, and how many of each size.
• Where they will live: a collection, for example drop-autumn, so one button can lead to all of them.
• How you will tell people: your sign-up list, social posts, and the email that goes out at the release time.

Prepare the products now, as Draft or unpublished from your online store, with photos, descriptions, sizes and fit details complete. On the day, you only publish them.

Step 2: the Drop launch section

1. In the theme editor, open your home page and select Add section > Drop launch. Place it near the top: under the hero is ideal.

2. Add an Image: a teaser photo, a detail, or a silhouette. Choose the Image position (left or right on large screens).

3. Write a Subheading, a Heading and a short Text: what is coming and why it is worth waiting for.

4. Set the Release date as year-month-day, for example 2026-12-04, and the Release time in 24-hour time, for example 18:00.

5. Keep Show the sign-up form on, write the Sign-up text ("Get the link before everyone else"), and set a Customer tag, for example drop-autumn.

6. Set the Button label and Button link that appear once the drop is live, for example "Shop the drop" leading to the drop collection.

7. Select Save.

Before the release, shoppers see the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds, the release date written out in their language, and the sign-up form. At the release time the countdown removes itself and the section shows your button. Nobody needs to touch anything.

Preview the live state

You will want to see the "live" version before the day. Turn on Preview the live state in the editor: the editor shows the section as it will look after the release, with the button. Customers keep seeing the countdown. Turn it off again when you are done.

Step 3: early-access sign-ups

Everyone who signs up in the section becomes a customer who accepts marketing, with two tags: newsletter and your drop tag. That tag is what makes the next step work.

Grow the list before the date:

• Share the page in your social posts and stories: "Sign up for the link".
• Use the newsletter popup with the same promise.
• Mention the date in the announcement bar.

Step 4: send the "it's live" email

1. In Shopify Email, create a campaign for the release. Write it ahead: subject, photo, the button to the drop collection.

2. As recipients, choose a segment: customers with the tag drop-autumn who accept marketing.

3. Schedule it for the release time, or send it the moment you publish the products.

Early access works best when it is real. Some brands send the email ten minutes before the public release, and publish the products at that moment; the countdown then marks the public opening.

Step 5: the day

1. A few minutes before the release, publish the drop products to your online store and add them to the drop collection.

2. At the release time, the Drop launch section switches to the button by itself.

3. Your email goes out (scheduled, or send it now).

4. Watch stock. When a size sells out, Selvedge shows it crossed out on cards and offers the back-in-stock form on the product page, so demand is captured rather than lost.

A whole store as a drop page

Before your first launch, or for brands that only sell in drops, close the store with a password (Online StorePreferences > Password protection). Visitors then see the Drop page: the password page of Selvedge.

In the theme editor, choose Password in the page selector and set:

At the launch, remove the password in Preferences and the store opens.

A drop timeline

The best drops are planned backwards from the release moment. A four-week plan that fits a small team:

Write the teaser

A teaser has one job: to make people sign up. Three short lines do it:

• What: "The autumn denim drop."
• When: "Thursday 4 December, 6 pm."
• Why sign up: "Early access 10 minutes before everyone else."

Put those three lines in the section's subheading, heading and sign-up text, and in every social post.

Stock and sizes

Drops sell out by size, not by product. Before the day, look at your size curve from past orders and make more of the sizes that sell first. On the day, sold-out sizes are crossed out on product cards and the back-in-stock form collects interest, which tells you exactly what to restock.

After the drop

• Thank the list. Send a short email to the drop tag with what sold, and what comes next.
• Move the section. Point the Drop launch section at your next date, or hide it until you have one. A countdown to a date in the past is never shown: after the release the section shows its button.
• Keep the tag. Shoppers who signed up for one drop are your best audience for the next. In your next campaign, include everyone with any drop- tag.
• Restock thoughtfully. Back-in-stock requests tell you which sizes and colors to make more of.

Questions merchants ask