EZ Process Pro
How Should a Furniture Store Track Special Orders From Sale to Delivery?
Track special orders by setting the customer's expectations at the sale and checking the order at every handoff until it's delivered. Special orders don't break on paperwork. They break on timing and details. The customer expects the sofa in two weeks when it takes four months, or one option gets missed and the sofa shows up wrong.
A special order moves through ten steps: write the sale, collect the deposit, place the order, confirm it with the vendor, get the build date, ship from the manufacturer, receive and inspect, collect the final payment, schedule delivery, and deliver. Every step has an owner, and every handoff gets a second set of eyes.
Done right, custom and special orders are great revenue for a furniture store. Here's how to run each step so the customer gets exactly what they expected, when they expected it.
Step 1: Write the Sale and Confirm Every Option
A custom sofa can come with 45 different options: fabric, arm style, leg style, nail head trim, fill, pillow style, tassels, and more. Go through every one with the customer and get their approval on each. Never let a salesperson or manager fill in a choice the customer didn't make and hope it's the one they would have picked.
Every option gets an answer, including "none." A blank could mean "no nail heads" or "we forgot to ask," and nobody down the line can tell the difference. That's how the sofa shows up without nail heads and the customer says, "I told you I wanted pewter nail heads on the front." Select "None" or "Not applicable" on purpose, so everyone who touches the order knows it was a choice.
Then have the sales manager double check the sale while the customer is still in the store. A second set of eyes catches what the salesperson missed, and if something needs to change, the customer makes the call right there instead of coming back in.
Step 2: Set the Timeline and Collect the Deposit
Before the customer pays, tell them how long a custom piece takes. If they want it in two weeks and it takes four months, they need to hear that now, not in month two. A customer who leaves with the wrong timeline will be upset no matter how well you run the rest of the process.
Then collect a deposit that at least covers your cost, which is the merchandise plus freight. For most stores that's 50 to 60% down, and 100% is even better when you can get it. For the full breakdown, see When Should a Furniture Store Order Merchandise for a Special Order Customer?
Step 3: Have One Person Place the Order
Have one person who works with the manufacturer consistently place every special order. That might be your head designer, operations manager, or store manager. The title doesn't matter. What matters is that they know how each vendor works and follow the process every time.
Every vendor handles special orders differently. Each has its own purchase order requirements and its own way of tracking options. The person placing the order needs to know those differences, because a PO that makes sense to you can still get misread on the other end.
Step 4: Check the Vendor Confirmation Line by Line
When the vendor confirmation comes back, compare it line by line against what you submitted. You're making sure nobody made an assumption: not the salesperson writing the sale, and not the vendor entering the order. Look for any blank that should have been filled and any option that doesn't match.
This is your last chance to catch a mistake before the piece gets built. Once the manufacturer starts building, a wrong fabric or the wrong nail heads becomes a four month problem.
Steps 5 and 6: Get the Build Date and Track Shipping
Once the vendor confirms the order, get the build date. The build date is when the manufacturer schedules your piece to start production. Manufacturers don't all use the term the same way, so ask each vendor what their build date means and write it down.
Then over communicate. Transparency builds trust. Give the customer the full timeline, not just the build date:
"This is the build date we just got. Based on that, we expect about two weeks to build it and about a week and a half on the truck, so we should have it around this date. Once it's here, we'll call you to schedule delivery."
The timeline is out of your hands once the order is placed. Manufacturers push build dates, and trucks run late. When the date changes, call the customer right away. A customer who hears about a delay from you stays patient. A customer who finds out by calling you to ask where their sofa is doesn't.
Step 7: Receive and Inspect Before You Call the Customer
When a special order arrives, your operations or warehouse manager unboxes it, unwraps it, and checks everything before anyone calls the customer. They're checking two things against the PO and the sale.
Damage. Find it right away. Catching it early gives you the most options: the manufacturer sends someone to fix it, you ship it back, or you fix it in house. Every one of those is easier before the customer is waiting on a delivery date.
The build matches the order. Every option the customer selected should be built the way it was ordered, and pieces ordered together should match. If the sofa and loveseat match on fabric and arm style, but one has pewter nail heads and the other has gold, a mistake was made.
When something's wrong, call the customer, explain what happened, and let them help decide the best fix. They might accept the piece with a discount, have you fix it, or send it back and wait another four months. Details matter here. What was built has to match what the customer expected.
Step 8: Collect the Final Payment
Once the piece passes inspection, deal with the balance. The rule is simple: you have to know where the money's coming from before you schedule delivery.
If the sale is a layaway, collect the final payment before you schedule delivery. As far as your accounting is concerned, a layaway balance isn't covered until it's paid.
If the balance is going through in house financing, external financing, or COD, you already know where the money is coming from. You can schedule delivery before the final payment comes in.
Steps 9 and 10: Schedule Delivery and Deliver
Call the customer to schedule delivery. If you've kept them updated since the day they bought it, this is the call they've been waiting for.
Then deliver exactly what the customer picked out, on the date you told them to expect.
When the Customer Changes Their Mind
Some customers will cancel a special order after it's placed. Your fine print decides what happens next, so every retailer has to decide this before it happens.
A high end store might eat some of the cost to keep a long term customer happy. Some customers change their minds, and that's a cost of doing business. A store with less volume or less cash behind it may not be able to absorb that, so it might keep enough of the deposit to cover its cost and refund the rest.
Either way, be intentional. Put the policy in your fine print, make sure it's legal in your state, and stand behind it with no ifs, ands, or buts. If a customer gets unreasonable, your fine print is what you point to.
And remember the pink polka dot sofa. Even if the deposit covers your cost, a canceled custom piece can leave you with something nobody else will buy. The more unusual the order, the more your cancellation policy matters.
How EZ Process Pro Handles Special Orders
Sales, purchase orders, and delivery memos written by hand are where details get missed. A good back office system does the heavy lifting.
In EZ Process Pro, every product is loaded with all of its options as dropdowns. When a salesperson writes a special order, they see every option for that piece, and an unselected option stays visibly blank. The system doesn't force a choice, because not every option applies to every piece. An ottoman may not take nail heads when the matching sofa does. So we recommend selecting "None" or "Not applicable" instead of leaving the default, so the person placing the order and the vendor both know it was intentional.
EZ Process Pro also tracks an ETA on every item, and the retailer sets it. We recommend using the ETA as the date you expect the piece to arrive at your warehouse. When a customer calls for an update, anyone in the company can look it up and give them an answer, not just the person who placed the order.
When the piece arrives, the customer doesn't have to come back in to pay the balance. You can email or text them a payment link, and they pay from their computer or phone. The payment goes straight into the EZ Process Pro accounts receivable module.
The deposit rules from When Should a Furniture Store Order Merchandise for a Special Order Customer? apply too. The owner sets when special orders get ordered or reserved, and the system holds that rule on every sale.
No system can force people to be perfect. A good one sets them up for success, as long as they follow the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a build date on a furniture special order?
The build date is when the manufacturer schedules your piece to start production. Manufacturers don't all use the term the same way, so ask each vendor what their build date means. To give the customer a real timeline, add build time and shipping time to the build date. Custom pieces can take 4 to 6 months from order to arrival.
What should a furniture store check when a special order arrives?
Unbox and unwrap it, then check two things before calling the customer. First, check for damage, so you can fix it, ship it back, or have the manufacturer repair it while you still have time. Second, confirm every option was built the way it was ordered, and that pieces ordered together match.
Who should be responsible for special orders in a furniture store?
Give each step an owner. The salesperson writes the sale, and the sales manager double checks it while the customer is still in the store. One person who knows the vendors places and confirms every order. The operations or warehouse manager checks each piece against the PO and the sale when it arrives.