Lead-time accuracy, production milestones tracked?

Yes, and it’s the single biggest CX investment for made-to-order furniture.

PDP message: a per-product lead_time_min_weeks + lead_time_max_weeks attribute drives the “ships in 6-8 weeks” copy. Custom upholstery: 10-14 weeks. In-stock: “ships in 2-3 days.” The number is dynamic, pulled from inventory + production calendar, so it stays accurate.

Production milestones: custom order-status extension (or a custom workflow in sales_order with a state machine) tracks the stages: Order received → Materials cut → Frame built → Upholstery in progress → QC → Shipped → Out for delivery. Customer sees a progress bar on the order-tracking page. Each stage triggers an email (“your sofa is in upholstery this week”) which reduces support tickets ~40% in the data I see.

Outbound visibility: ShipStation or Shippo handles the LTL handoff and surfaces tracking once the carrier picks up. For white-glove deliveries, the carrier’s appointment-scheduling portal (XPO Connect, ABF’s scheduler, or Metropolitan’s app) gets embedded into the order-tracking page so the customer schedules their delivery window without phoning support.