Everything you'd want to know before you install.
A detailed look at how DataFirefly Waitlist — Back-in-stock alert with conversion tracking for PrestaShop 8 & 9 works, why we built it the way we did, and the thinking behind the features above.
The invisible revenue lost on out-of-stock products
On a growing shop, 5 to 15% of product traffic lands on unavailable pages. Without a recovery system, this traffic is lost twice: the immediate sale, and the customer who won't come back three weeks later to check if the product is back. DataFirefly Waitlist turns this friction into measurable revenue. The interested visitor leaves their email in 5 seconds; you send them an automatic alert at restock; they come back to buy. On high-demand products (capsule collections, limited series, seasonal references), the post-alert conversion rate frequently lands between 15 and 30%.
Why combinations support changes everything
Most competing back-in-stock alert modules only handle simple products. On a shop selling clothes, shoes, or equipment with variants, that's unusable: a customer interested in "Red size L" gets an alert when "Blue size XS" comes back in stock, loses trust, and unsubscribes. DataFirefly Waitlist handles subscription per (product, combination) pair. The visitor clearly sees the selected variant in the form ("Variant: Red / Size L"), the email mentions the exact combination, and the link points directly to the pre-selected page. When the visitor changes variant before purchasing, the button updates in real time via a dedicated AJAX endpoint — it disappears if the chosen variant is in stock, reappears otherwise, and switches the target combination.
Conversion tracking that proves value
Most marketing modules communicate in promises: "increases average basket by X%". With Waitlist, you measure: every subscription is tracked through to purchase. The actionValidateOrder hook checks after every order whether the customer matches a notified subscriber on this product. If yes, the subscription is marked as converted with the associated id_order. The back-office dashboard shows the conversion rate globally and per product (purchases / notifications). You see precisely which products convert when they come back — valuable info to guide supplier sourcing — and the cumulative ROI of the module in real euros.
Real-time detection + safety-net cron
The module detects restocks through two complementary channels. In real time via the actionUpdateQuantity hook: as soon as an employee changes a stock value in the back-office (or an order is cancelled and frees up stock), emails are sent immediately. And via a token-secured cron: for stocks updated outside hooks (API import, ERP sync, CLI scripts, Webservice updates), an hourly check detects restocks and triggers emails. The dual mechanism ensures no restock slips through, whatever the source of the update.
Merchant alert: demand as a restock signal
Beyond individual conversion, Waitlist turns your waitlist into a steering tool. When an out-of-stock product accumulates N subscribers (configurable threshold, default 10), an automatic email notifies you with the count and a link to the dashboard. You prioritize restocking the most-demanded products instead of restocking blindly. It's direct buying data, not sentiment: 47 people are waiting for this product — that's 47 nearly guaranteed sales if you restock fast. On seasonal products or capsules, this signal arrives before the product is in catastrophic stock-out.
GDPR compliance and list quality
Three built-in mechanisms: toggleable double opt-in (subscription is only validated after the visitor clicks the email link — maximum list quality and GDPR compliance), one-click unsubscribe in every alert email (unique token, separated from the confirmation token for security reasons), and auto-purge of unnotified subscriptions beyond a configurable lifetime (90 days by default). Every subscription records the IP as proof of consent. No third-party service: data stays in the PrestaShop database, scoped per shop.
Multi-shop, multilingual, multi-theme
The subscriber table includes id_shop and id_lang: each sub-shop in a multi-shop network has its own waitlist and its own merchant alerts. Emails are provided in four languages (FR / EN / ES / DE), responsive HTML and plain text. The module uses the displayProductActions hook (present in all official themes and most custom themes) and a dedicated AJAX endpoint to sync visibility — making it completely independent from the theme's AJAX refresh behavior. Compatible with Classic, Hummingbird, and custom themes.
PrestaShop addons validator compliance
The module passes the official addons.prestashop.com validator without blocking errors: English description, compliant PHP / JS / TPL license headers, _PS_VERSION_ guard on all files, root .htaccess to block file listing, Smarty escape on all variables, HTML/PHP separation via dedicated templates, strict types on ObjectModel. If you plan to resell your shop or respond to a technical audit, the module passes without rework.
There are no reviews yet.