What is Periodic review?

Periodic review gives small store owners a simple routine for reordering. Instead of watching stock levels every day, you set a schedule, like checking inventory every Monday morning, and only make ordering decisions at that time. This fits how most small teams actually work, since someone is usually doing a batch of tasks once a week rather than monitoring stock in real time.

The tradeoff is that you need more buffer stock than with continuous monitoring, because a SKU could sell out right after a review and you would not notice until the next one. To use it well, pick a review interval that matches how fast your best sellers move, and set target stock levels that account for both the supplier lead time and the length of the review period.

Formula

Example

A candle store reviews inventory every Friday. On review day, the target stock level for a jar candle SKU is 80 units. Stock on hand plus incoming inventory equals 35 units. The store orders 80 - 35 = 45 units, rounded up to the nearest case pack of 10, so it orders 50 units.

Common mistakes

• Setting the review interval too long, so stock runs out before the next check.
• Forgetting to include incoming inventory already on order when calculating how much to order.
• Using the same target stock level year round and ignoring seasonality.

Periodic review and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf checks your sales and stock continuously and tells you the order-by date per SKU, so you are not limited to a fixed review schedule and can still catch fast movers between periodic checks.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Reorder point · Par level · Safety stock · Perpetual inventory · Lead time demand

Full inventory glossary

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