Your lead time is the number of business days it normally takes you to fulfill an order after receiving it. This is different from your expected ship date, which is a single date you choose at fulfillment to estimate what day the order will ship. Lead time is always counted in business days—weekends and holidays do not count toward the total.
How do I update my lead time?
You can update your lead time whenever needed—for example, during the holiday season when fulfillment typically takes longer than usual. While you're free to adjust this setting at any time, ensuring it accurately reflects your actual turnaround time builds retailer confidence in your brand.
To update your lead time:
- Go to your Shop settings and scroll to the Shop lead time section.
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You can choose to have your lead time automatically adjusted or manually set.
- Automatically adjusted: Your lead time is calculated based on your actual shipping history to ensure accuracy and prevent late shipments. Note, this option is only available if you have enough recent shipments to generate an accurate estimate.
- Manually set: This is a fixed lead time that you can adjust at anytime. If you select this option, you can choose a new lead time from the drop-down menu. This must be a range, and can’t be a single number. If you don’t see your desired lead time in the drop down, choose the option that is the closest match.
- Select Save to apply your changes.
Do I have to set a lead time?
You're not required to set a lead time. Here's how lead times are determined:
- If you select a lead time in your shop settings, we'll use that range to show retailers when they can expect their orders.
- If you haven't set a lead time but have enough order history, we'll automatically calculate and apply a dynamic lead time based on your fulfillment data.
- If neither of the above applies, we'll use the lead time you provided during onboarding (which may be a single date rather than a range).
Having accurate lead times helps retailers plan their orders effectively, especially for time-sensitive needs like store events. It's also important for managing your late-shipments statistics. For more information, please see What is considered a late shipment?