How does the reorder planner decide what to order, with stock on its way?

The reorder planner tells you, for every variant, when it runs out, the last day to reorder and how many units to order. It counts stock on its way as arriving in time. It is the big table at the bottom of Insights, Inventory.

It lists every variant with stock on hand, a sale in the last 90 days or sales expected soon. A variant is one version of a product, like a hoodie in size M. Each row shows the product's image, the variant's name and its SKU, or No SKU. Gift cards and digital products are left out, as they are not stock. So are variants whose stock Shopify does not track, like made-to-order items. The line under the table counts them, like 2 variants Shopify does not track left out.

The planner opens with the most urgent first. Variants with an Order by day come first, the most overdue at the top. On the same day, the faster seller goes first. Then come the variants with nothing to order, the most money tied up first. The badge at the top counts what is due: 4 to order now, or Nothing to order now.

Everything starts from Sells a day: how many units the variant will likely sell each day, with units sent back taken off. Pace from says where that comes from. Recent sales: half from the last 30 days, 30% from the last 90 and 20% from the last 7. Last year: once it has sold for a full year, 70% comes from the same coming 90 days last year, adjusted for your growth. The other 30% comes from recent sales.

On hand is the stock Shopify reports today. On its way is stock you already ordered: open purchase orders and transfers in Shopify. Shopify does not say when it arrives, so nouz counts it as arriving in time. It counts for Days left, the restock statuses, Runs out, Order by and Suggested order. It never counts as stock on hand: Sold out still means nothing on the shelf today. Stock value, Tied up and Dead stock count only what is on hand.

Days left is stock on hand plus on its way, divided by Sells a day: 120 units at 2 a day is 60 days. It counts whole days, so 18,9 days shows as 18. Under one day shows <1, and beyond two years 730+. A dash means nothing is expected to sell. Runs out is today plus Days left: the first day the stock no longer covers a day's sales. It can also read Today, Sold out, Over 2 years or a dash.

Status compares Days left with the lead time: how many days a reorder takes to arrive. Sold out means nothing on hand, while it sold in the last 90 days or should sell. Restock now means fewer days left than the lead time plus 7, and Restock soon fewer than plus 21. Healthy goes up to plus 90. Overstocked is more than plus 90, and Severely overstocked more than plus 180. Dead stock means stock on hand, no sale in 90 days and none expected. With the default 30-day lead time, Restock now means under 37 days.

Order by is the last day to reorder: the Runs out day minus the lead time. Order then and the new stock lands as the last unit sells. Now, in red, means that day has come or passed. A product with its own lead time shows it underneath, like 45-day lead time. Suggested order is how many units to order on that day, or today once it has passed. It covers the lead time plus 60 days of sales, minus what will still be on the shelf or on its way then. Order cost is that number times today's unit cost. Overstocked, Severely overstocked and Dead stock rows have nothing to order. Their Order by, Suggested order and Order cost show a dash.

A worked example. Today is 5 October. A hoodie in size M sells 2 a day. You have 100 on hand and 20 on its way. Its lead time is 30 days. Days left is 120 ÷ 2 = 60, so it is Healthy. It runs out on 4 December. Order by is 30 days earlier: 4 November. On that day you still hold 60 units. The lead time plus 60 days needs 2 × 90 = 180 units. Suggested order is 180 − 60 = 120 units. At a unit cost of €25,00, Order cost is €3.000,00.

The other columns. Class is A, B or C, from the last 90 days' CM1: what sales leave after the product's own cost. A-items earn the first 80% of it, B-items the next 15%, and C-items the rest plus anything that lost money. Unit cost is what one unit costs you today. Stock value is on hand times unit cost, or No unit cost. Tied up is the stock beyond the lead time plus 90 days of sales, at unit cost, and all of it for dead stock. Last sale is the last day it sold, within two years. Lead time shows the days, its own or the default.

The Sales and profit columns cover the dates picked at the top of Insights. Units sold, Net Revenue, CM1, CM1 %, CM2, EBITDA and EBITDA % are the same numbers as on the Products tab. A dash means no sale or refund in that range. Amber means part of its sales had no unit cost, so the profit reads too high.

Above the table sit status tabs, a search and the Columns button. Each status is a tab with a count, beside All, and a status with none is greyed out. The search finds a product name or SKU, and the counts follow it. Clicking a status in the cards above picks the same tab. A cell in Best sellers by status also keeps one class only. A chip like A-items only shows it, with a cross to clear it.

The table opens on Status, On hand, Sells a day, Days left, Runs out, Order by, Suggested order and Stock value. On its way joins them when anything is on its way. Click a header to sort by it, and click again to flip. Hold the mouse button and drag to move a wide table sideways. The list shows 15 variants a page.

You set lead times on the Products page. Default lead time, beside the search, sets the store's. Reorder lead time, in a product's panel, sets that product's own. The email A product needs ordering follows the same Order by dates. It is sent on the day a product reaches its Order by day, or later while it is still due. It arrives at the hour of your daily email. It names a product again after two weeks if it is still due, at most once a day. It is off until you switch it on in Settings, Notifications, under Alerts, in the Stock group. The email links straight to Insights, Inventory.