Inventory how-to

How to prioritize which products to reorder first

Order by how soon each SKU will actually run out, not by total sales value.

Short answer: Order by how soon each SKU will actually run out, not by total sales value. Rank every variant by days of stock remaining and lead time, then work down the list starting with the ones that will stock out before their replacement can arrive.

Rank by urgency, not by revenue

Your best-selling product is not automatically your most urgent reorder. A SKU with 60 days of stock and a 10-day lead time can wait. A slower SKU with 12 days of stock and a 30-day lead time cannot. Sort your list by days of stock minus lead time minus safety days, and whatever is most negative goes first.

Group by supplier before you commit

Once you know which SKUs are urgent, check which supplier each one comes from. If two urgent SKUs share a supplier, combine them into one purchase order. This saves on shipping and often gets you closer to a case pack or minimum order quantity, so you are not placing three small orders to the same supplier in one week.

Watch lead time differences, not just stock levels

A SKU with less stock but a short lead time can wait longer than a SKU with more stock but a long lead time. Always calculate the order-by date (today's stock minus daily sales times lead time plus safety days) rather than comparing raw units on hand across products.

Do not ignore slow movers until they hit zero

Slow-selling SKUs look low priority because they are not moving much, but if they have a long lead time, they can quietly cross their reorder point and leave you out of stock for weeks. Check them on the same schedule as fast movers, just with a longer look-ahead window.

Step by step

  1. List every SKU with its current stock, daily sales rate, and supplier lead time.
  2. Calculate days of stock for each: on hand divided by daily sales.
  3. Calculate each SKU's order-by date: days of stock minus (lead time plus safety days).
  4. Sort the list so the most overdue or soonest order-by dates are at the top.
  5. Group the top SKUs by supplier and combine into single purchase orders where possible.
  6. Place orders for anything already at or past its order-by date first, then work down the list.
  7. Re-run this check weekly so new urgent items do not get missed between reviews.

Worked example

A store sells a hoodie at 4 units a day with 40 on hand and a 14-day lead time from its supplier, giving 10 days of stock minus 14 days lead time, already 4 days overdue. The same store sells a tote bag at 1 unit a day with 20 on hand and a 7-day lead time, giving 20 days of stock minus 7 days lead time, 13 days of cushion. The hoodie goes on the purchase order today. The tote bag can wait, even though it has more total units on hand than the hoodie needs.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf calculates the order-by date per SKU automatically from your sales rate, lead time, and safety days, and its weekly reorder email already lists SKUs in order of urgency so you do not have to rank them by hand. It does not prioritize across locations or channels, since it has no multi-location or multichannel logic, so if you stock the same SKU in several places you still need to judge priority between locations yourself.

$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 prioritize reorders by profit margin instead of stock-out risk?

Margin matters for which products you push in marketing, but for reordering, stock-out risk comes first. A high-margin item that stocks out earns you nothing while it is unavailable. Use order-by date to decide sequence, and use margin separately when deciding how much extra cover to carry on a given SKU.

What if two urgent SKUs come from the same supplier but I can only afford one order right now?

Order whichever one has the earlier order-by date, and for the other, contact the supplier about a smaller interim order or ask about splitting the shipment if their minimum allows it. If neither is possible, accept a short stock-out on the less urgent SKU rather than delaying both.

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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