Inventory how-to

How to plan inventory for a product feature in the press

Treat a press feature like a planned demand spike, not normal sales.

Short answer: Treat a press feature like a planned demand spike, not normal sales. Estimate the size of the spike, buy ahead of the publish date based on supplier lead time, and set a short safety buffer since the exact timing and reach of coverage is never certain.

Estimate the size of the spike first

Look at past spikes from similar coverage if you have them: a newsletter mention, a blog post, an influencer tag. If you have no history, ask the publication about audience size and compare to your usual conversion rate from similar traffic sources. Build a low, medium and high case rather than one number, because press traffic is unpredictable.

Work backward from the publish date

Find out when the piece goes live, even if it is an estimate. Take your supplier's lead time and add it to your normal safety days, then count back from the publish date to get your order-by date. If that date has already passed, call the supplier and ask about rush production or partial early shipment instead of placing a normal order.

Buy in excess of your forecast, not instead of it

Keep your normal reorder running for steady demand, then add a separate top-up order sized to your medium or high spike case. Round up to case packs so you are not left short by a rounding error. If cash or minimum order quantities are a constraint, prioritize the SKU that will actually be shown or linked in the piece, not your whole catalog.

Watch the first 48 hours closely

Once the feature is live, check sales against your low/medium/high cases daily, not weekly. If you are tracking toward the high case, call the supplier immediately about a follow-up order, since a second order placed early is cheaper and calmer than an emergency one placed after you sell out.

Step by step

  1. Confirm the publish date and ask the publication for any audience or reach numbers they can share
  2. Build low, medium, high sales estimates for the featured SKU using past spikes or comparable traffic as a reference
  3. Calculate your order-by date: publish date minus (lead time + safety days)
  4. Place a top-up order on top of your normal reorder, sized to the medium or high case, rounded to case packs
  5. If the order-by date has passed, contact the supplier about rush options or partial shipment
  6. Monitor actual sales daily for the first 48 hours after the feature goes live and compare to your cases
  7. Place a follow-up order early if sales are tracking toward your high case

Worked example

A store expects a feature on a blog with 50,000 monthly readers. A past similar feature converted at roughly 0.4% of readers into buyers of the featured item, so the medium case is 200 units sold over two weeks, with a low case of 100 and a high case of 350. Daily sales for that SKU are normally 5 units. Supplier lead time is 10 days and safety days are 3, so the order-by date is 13 days before publish. On hand is 40 units and nothing is on order, so the top-up order for the medium case is 200 minus 40, or 160 units, rounded up to 180 to fit the supplier's case pack of 30.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf forecasts from a 28-day sales window and does not know about a press hit in advance, so it will not size this spike for you. Use it to keep your normal reorder on track and to place the top-up purchase order once you have your own estimate, then watch actual sales against your estimate manually in the days after the feature runs.

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

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

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FAQ

Can SteadyShelf forecast demand from a press feature automatically?

No. Its forecast is based on recent sales history, typically a 28-day window, so it has no way to anticipate a spike that hasn't happened yet. You need to estimate the spike yourself and place a manual top-up order ahead of the publish date.

Will SteadyShelf adjust automatically once the press spike starts selling through?

It will start reflecting higher sales once they fall inside its sales window, but that is after the fact. During the spike itself, check actual sales against your own low/medium/high estimates daily and order ahead of what the app's reorder point would suggest, since the app is reacting to history, not predicting the spike.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.

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