Question
We are opening a new store, and I want the products to be able to show online; BUT I want it to say "Coming Soon" or "Not Available" so they could leave an e-mail to be notified when the item is available. Can we do this? I have not created the page yet because I do not want anyone to be able to order yet.
Answer
You can go into Store Manager and create the products as usual. For right now, check off the Allow Back Order box for each product so that they will show even though you do not have inventory. (When the product comes in, you will have to go back into those products and uncheck the allow back order box so the inventory is correct.)
The big question is whether you want the people to be able to order the products or not.
If yes, you could create an alert that says "Pre-order" so that the customers know that the product is not available, yet they would be able to choose a size, place it into the shopping bag and go through checkout.
If no, then you could use a special alert to show the product, but not allow the customers to add it to their bag.
Read more about Special Alerts.