Inventory how-to

How to manage inventory for a product being replaced by a new version

Stop reordering the old version early, sell it down with the forecast you already have, and set up the new version as a brand new SKU with its own sales history once it starts selling.

Short answer: Stop reordering the old version early, sell it down with the forecast you already have, and set up the new version as a brand new SKU with its own sales history once it starts selling. Do not try to merge their histories, since that will distort your forecasts for months.

Treat it as two separate SKUs

The old version and the new version are different products even if they replace each other. Give the new version its own SKU and its own variant record. Do not reuse the old SKU code, even if the product name stays the same. Mixing sales history between them will make any forecast tool, including SteadyShelf, produce bad numbers for both.

Wind down the old version on purpose

Once you know the cutover date, stop treating the old version as a normal reorder item. Let it run down to zero rather than placing one more order to top it up. If you have a lot of stock left, consider a clearance price to clear it before the new version arrives, so you are not holding dead stock and paying for storage on something you will not reorder.

Handle the gap between old and new stock

If the old version runs out before the new version arrives, you will have a stockout window. Decide if that is acceptable or if you need to overlap orders so new stock lands before old stock is gone. This is a manual timing decision based on your supplier's lead time for the new version, not something a reorder point calculation handles well, since the old item's reorder point assumes you will keep restocking it.

Let the new version build its own forecast

When the new version starts selling, it will have no history, so early forecasts will be rough. Expect to place smaller, more frequent orders for the first few months until there is enough sales data to trust the suggested quantities. Watch it closely rather than relying on default settings during this period.

Step by step

  1. Set a firm cutover date for when the old version stops being sold.
  2. Remove the old SKU from automatic reordering as soon as you decide not to restock it again.
  3. Let the old version's stock run down, using discounts if needed to clear remaining units.
  4. Create the new version as a new SKU, not a renamed old one.
  5. Place an initial manual order for the new version based on expected demand, not forecasted demand.
  6. Review the new version's sales weekly for the first couple of months and adjust order quantities by hand.
  7. Once the new version has a few months of sales, let normal reorder calculations take over.

Worked example

Say you sell 10 units a day of "Widget A" and plan to replace it with "Widget B" in 6 weeks, once your remaining 80 units of Widget A sell out. At 10 units a day, 80 units lasts 8 days, so you will likely run out of Widget A about 5 weeks before Widget B arrives. You decide that's an acceptable gap, since customers don't mind waiting, so you place no further Widget A orders and let it sell out naturally. When Widget B launches, you place an initial order of 150 units based on your own demand estimate, since there is no sales history yet to forecast from.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf forecasts each SKU from its own sales history, so it has no built-in way to link an old product to its replacement or carry over expectations between them. You need to manually stop reordering the old SKU and set up the new one yourself, then let SteadyShelf's forecast catch up once real sales data comes in.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial. Run the numbers now with the free reorder point calculator.

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FAQ

Should I just rename the old SKU to the new product instead of creating a new one?

No. Renaming keeps the old sales history attached, which will throw off forecasts and reorder points for the new product, since its demand pattern, price, or pack size may be different from the old version.

What do I do with leftover old-version stock I can't sell before cutover?

Discount it to move it, bundle it manually with other items at checkout, or write it off as dead stock. SteadyShelf does not handle bundles or clearance planning, so this part is a manual pricing decision outside the app.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

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