Manage time-based launches

This Product hard launch use case enables hands-off product launches at specific times. Perfect for coordinated global launches, product drops, flash sales, or when you need precise timing across multiple time zones without manual intervention.

How it works

Use a timestamp attribute that automatically reveals products when their launch time arrives. The system compares the current time with each product's publish date to determine visibility through API filtering.

Note that this is an API driven use case that requires changes in your API calls. No dashboard changes are needed.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you have access to the Catalogs & events admin permission.

Implementation steps

Step 1: Configure date attribute

Configure the custom feed attribute as follows:

Avoid using reserved attributes like launch_date and start_date. Custom attribute publish_date is better suited for this use case and allows greater flexibility.

Step 2: Send publish date in your feed

Include the publish_date attribute for products you want to launch at a specific time. Products with future publish dates will be filtered out of API responses until their time arrives.

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Note

This use case depends on your feed update frequency and is tightly coupled with feed processing timelines. Products will only become visible after your next feed processing cycle.

Step 3: Include publish_date in API calls

Add this filter query parameter to your API calls:

&fq=publish_date:[* TO CurrentTimeCode]

Replace CurrentTimeCode with the appropriate timestamp, ensuring the format matches your feed. CurrentTimeCode represents the current local time code, using the same format as publish_date.

If you provide publish_date in YYYYMMDDHHMM, you should also provide CurrentTimeCode in YYYYMMDDHHMM. If your site and servers are in the same region, provide the time code in the same time zone as the publish_date.

Handle time zones consistently

The publish_date timestamps in your feed correspond to the time zone used for generating your API calls.

To adjust your API calls to the desired time zone, add to CurrentTimeCode if the local server is behind the publish_date time zone, or subtract from CurrentTimeCode if the local server is ahead of the publish_date time zone.

See the table below for examples on changing CurrentTimeCode to adjust the launch time:

If you want a simultaneous, global launch

1. In the feed, provide publish_date/ values in UTC +0.
2. In your API calls, provide CurrentTimeCode in UTC +0.

If you want launches based on local time

1. In the feed, provide publish_date values in your primary market’s time zone.
2. In your API calls, provide CurrentTimeCode in local time.

Advanced implementation: Combining with the Secret attribute

You can combine both the publish_date method and the Secret method for products with launch dates in the far future, allowing merchandisers to start working on them as soon as possible:

1. In your feed, give products with far-future launch dates a Secret value of "yes" and also provide the publish_date.
2. Create a global rule in the dashboard to hide products with Secret = yes.
3. About a week before launch, change those products to Secret = no and start filtering by publish_date in your API calls.

Example

Global sneaker drop coordination

A footwear retailer plans to release a limited-edition sneaker worldwide at exactly 12:00 PM UTC on Black Friday. They use the publish_date method with UTC timestamps to ensure simultaneous availability across all regions.

The merchandising team adds publish_date=202411291200 to the sneaker products and updates their API calls to filter by this timestamp.

On launch day, the products automatically become visible at the exact scheduled time without any manual intervention, creating a global launch experience.