How Hullara Drop opens a release: stock, not the clock

Most release pages put a clock in charge. When it reaches zero, a script switches the product to "live". If the stock has not landed in Shopify yet, the page says one thing and the cart says another, and the shopper finds out at checkout.

In Hullara Drop the clock never opens a release. A product reads "Opens" with its date until Shopify says it can be bought, whatever the time on the page. Stock it early and it is live at once.

Three metafields and the stock

Every state the theme shows comes from three product metafields and Shopify's own answer to whether the product can be bought:

• hullara.drop_number — the number on the release board and across the hero;
• hullara.drop_opens_at — the minute it opens, the same instant for every visitor;
• hullara.restock — whether it will be made again, which decides "sold out" or "archive".

The theme reads Shopify's available for the last word. It is true when at least one variant of the product can be bought:

From those, a product is in one of five states, decided in this order: pre-order (buyable with nothing in stock), live (buyable), upcoming (not buyable, and its opening time is ahead), archived (not buyable, and you said it will not be made again) or sold out (not buyable otherwise).

What happens at zero

The countdown stops at zero, and that is all it does. The buy button stays closed until your stock says otherwise, so a release that has not arrived yet cannot be sold by accident.

What it doesn't do

• It does not send reminder emails. The reminder form posts through Shopify's own forms, whichever you choose: to your inbox as a contact message, or as a customer tagged release and release-<product id>. Sending the email is a job for Shopify Flow, which runs actions in response to events in your store, or for your email app.

• It does not make stock available for you. Putting the inventory on sale at the minute is yours to do, by hand or with an automation.
• It does not run raffles, queues or bot protection. A release that needs those needs an app built for them.

The theme in this post

Hullara Drop

Numbered releases: trainers, streetwear and small runs that open on a date.