Drops
Chapter 9 of the Loot user guide.
A drop is a release that goes on sale at a set moment. Give a product a Release date (custom.release_date, chapter 7) and Loot counts down to it everywhere the product appears:
- Product cards show a "Drops in 2d 14h 09m" chip across the bubble and a bell Remind me key in place of the + key. Both go when the drop is live.
- The product page shows the Drop status block, with big countdown tiles, the release time in words ("Fri 24 Oct, 7:00 pm AEDT") and a Remind me form, in place of the buy box (the drop lock, below). When the countdown reaches zero the buy box appears without a reload.
- The drop calendar section lists your next drops.
- The hero and the announcement bar can count down to the same moment.
Countdowns run in the shopper's browser from the exact moment, so a page that was cached or left open still turns live on time. Before the script loads (or without JavaScript), the page shows the release time in words.
The drop calendar
The Drop calendar section is an accent band with the next drop on the left (big countdown tiles and its card) and the upcoming drops on the right as calendar rows: a date tile, the picture, the name, a line of facts and a key. The presets put it on the home page, and the page.drops template is a full drop calendar page with past drops shown as sold out and a "Drop day questions" FAQ: create a page with that template and link to it from the header's Drops link and End link.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Kicker, Kicker icon, Heading, Text | "Drop calendar", Calendar, "Next drop in" | |
| Background | Accent | Accent, Page or Alternate band |
| Show the next drop | On | The big countdown tiles and a card for the soonest upcoming drop |
| Reminder tag | drop-alert | The tag Remind me adds to each customer (below) |
| Show as live for | 48h (6 to 168) | How long a drop shows as live after its time before it leaves the calendar |
| Past drops | Hide | Hide, or Show as sold out (a past drop stays with "Sold out" while its product can't be bought) |
| Link label, Link | "See the full drop calendar" | A link under the rows, such as your drop calendar page |
Add up to eight Drop blocks. They sort themselves, soonest first.
| Drop setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Product | Its release date, image, title and page fill the row |
| Title, Image | Replace the product's title and image |
| Facts | A short line, such as "12 vinyl figures · 1 chase" or "36 packs · 1 per customer" |
| Date, Time, Time zone | For a drop without a product, or a product without a release date: date as 2026-11-27, time as 24-hour 19:00, and Store time zone or a UTC offset. A product's release date wins. |
| Link | Defaults to the product's page |
| Status | From the date (default), Pre-order open (a "Pre-order open" badge), Live or Sold out |
Each row's state follows the clock: before its moment a Remind me key; at its moment a pop "Today / Live / now" tile, "Live now" and a Shop now key; after the live window it leaves the calendar (or shows as sold out). With no drops, or every drop past, the section hides on your storefront (the editor shows an "Add a drop" sample row).
Remind me
Remind me is one email field. When a shopper sends it, Shopify adds them to your Customers as a customer who accepts email marketing, tagged with:
- the Reminder tag (
drop-alertby default; the Tabletop and Holo presets userelease-alert), and drop-followed by the product's handle, such asdrop-neon-ronin-wave-3(a drop without a product usesdrop-and the block's internal id, so give each drop a product where you can).
The shopper sees "You're on the list for Neon Ronin wave 3." and the form says exactly what happens: "We'll add you to our email list for this drop. Unsubscribe any time."
The theme doesn't send any email itself. To send the reminder, go to Marketing in admin (or Customers › Segments), create a segment of customers with that tag (for example customer_tags CONTAINS 'drop-neon-ronin-wave-3'), and send them an email with Shopify Email or your email app before the drop. Send a test sign-up first and check the customer and their tags in Customers. The footer's newsletter form tags sign-ups drop-alert too, so one segment can reach everyone who wants drop news.
The drop lock
Hide the buy box until the drop (on the Buy buttons block, on by default) hides the product page's buy box before the product's release date. A countdown stands in its place (the Drop status block's, or a small one of its own when that block isn't on the page). At zero the buy box appears and the shopper can add to cart.
The drop lock is display only. It hides the buttons; it doesn't stop orders. A shopper can still reach checkout another way, such as an old cart link or an app. To stop early orders, control availability in Shopify admin:
- Keep the stock at 0 until drop time: set the variants' inventory to 0 with Continue selling when out of stock off, and add the stock at the drop (cards show "Sold out" until then), or
- Schedule availability: in the product's Publishing (sales channels) settings, schedule it for the Online Store at the drop time. The product page and cards only appear then, so give the drop calendar row its own title, image, date and time.
Taking pre-orders before the drop instead? Leave stock available, fill in Ships from, and use a product template whose Buy buttons block has the lock off.
Other countdowns
- Hero: Count down to › The product's release date (the hero's Product) or A date and time, with a Countdown label ("Neon Ronin wave 3 goes live in").
- Announcement bar: a Countdown block with its own date and time (chapter 3).
- Password page: a countdown to your opening date.
Use real deadlines that are the same for every shopper. Shopify doesn't allow fake countdowns, so don't extend or restart a deadline to create urgency.