How to set reorder points for WooCommerce products

A reorder point is the stock level at which you place a new order: average daily sales × supplier lead time + safety stock. WooCommerce doesn't calculate it, but you can enter the result as each product's Low stock threshold on its Inventory tab, so WooCommerce flags the product as low stock (and emails you) at the right moment.

Below: where each input comes from in WooCommerce, a worked example, how much safety stock to hold, how to set it up for variations, and how to keep reorder points current. If you just want the number, use the free reorder point calculator.

The reorder point formula

Reorder point = (average daily sales × lead time in days) + safety stock

• Average daily sales: units sold in a recent period divided by the days in it.
• Lead time: days from placing an order with your supplier to having the stock ready to sell. Include time to receive and shelve it, not just shipping. See lead time.
• Safety stock: a buffer for a slow delivery or a busy week. See safety stock.

The first part is the stock you'll sell while you wait for the delivery. The safety stock is what stops a late delivery turning into a stock-out. The full definition is in the reorder point glossary entry.

Where to find each number in WooCommerce

A worked example

Say you sell a linen apron.

• It sold 120 units in the last 30 days, so average daily sales are 120 ÷ 30 = 4 a day.
• Your supplier usually delivers in 10 days.
• You'll sell about 4 × 10 = 40 while you wait.
• You want 3 days of buffer: 4 × 3 = 12 units of safety stock.

Reorder point = 40 + 12 = 52. When stock falls to 52, place an order.

How much safety stock should you hold?

Two practical ways, from simplest to more careful.

Days of buffer. Choose a number of days and multiply by daily sales. 3 to 7 days is common for a reliable local supplier; more for overseas suppliers or long shipping. This is easy and good enough for most products.

Worst case minus normal case. If you have a few months of history:

Safety stock = (highest daily sales × longest lead time) − (average daily sales × average lead time)

Say your apron's busiest day sold 7, your slowest delivery took 14 days, the average is 4 a day and deliveries average 10 days. Safety stock = (7 × 14) − (4 × 10) = 98 − 40 = 58. That's much more cautious. It suits best sellers where running out costs real sales, not slow lines where it just ties up cash.

Hold more safety stock on best sellers and on products with unreliable suppliers. Hold less on slow sellers, where the cost of extra stock is higher than the cost of a short gap.

Setting it up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce has no field called "reorder point", but the low stock threshold does the job.

1. Open the product and go to the Inventory tab.
2. Make sure stock management is on and the stock quantity is correct.
3. Enter your reorder point in Low stock threshold.
4. Update the product.

Then make sure the alert reaches you:

1. Go to WooCommerce › Settings › Products › Inventory.
2. Under Notifications, tick the low stock notification.
3. Add your address under Notification recipient(s).

Now the product appears as low stock in Analytics › Stock once it reaches its reorder point, and you get an email. The guide on getting a low-stock report in WooCommerce covers the report side.

Variations

If each size or color manages its own stock, each needs its own reorder point. Set the low stock threshold in each variation's settings, or use the Bulk actions menu on the product's Variations tab to set one value for all of them. Usually different sizes sell at different speeds, so it's worth setting the best-selling variations individually. More on this in tracking stock for variations.

Mistakes that make reorder points fail

• One threshold for everything. A store-wide low stock threshold of 5 is a reorder point that's right for almost no product. Set your top sellers individually.
• Using the quoted lead time. Suppliers quote best case. Use the days your last few orders actually took.
• Averaging over a stock-out. If a product was out of stock for part of the period, its average daily sales are too low. Divide by days in stock instead.
• Forgetting promotions and seasons. A reorder point built on October sales will be too low for December. Raise it before the busy period.
• Never revisiting them. Sales speed changes. A product that keeps running out despite a reorder point needs a higher one; see what running out of stock costs a WooCommerce store.

Reorder point vs days left

A reorder point is a stock level you set ahead of time. Days left (stock ÷ daily sales) is a date you calculate from today's numbers. They're two views of the same idea:

• A product should be reordered when its days left fall below lead time plus safety days.
• That moment is exactly when its stock falls to its reorder point.

Reorder points are good for alerts. Days left is better for a weekly review of the whole catalog, because it adjusts automatically as sales speed up or slow down. The guide on finding products about to sell out covers the days-left method, and the WooCommerce inventory forecasting guide shows how the two fit into one routine.

What Askshelf can and can't tell you

Askshelf doesn't calculate reorder points or safety stock, and it can't set a product's low stock threshold (it's read-only). What it does have is a stock runway lookup: it lists products and variations that will run out within a number of days you choose (1 to 120), from current stock and the sales rate over the last 7 to 90 days.

That's the days-left view. Ask with a horizon equal to your lead time plus your safety days, and the answer is the list of products that have reached their reorder point:

Use the reorder point calculator for the threshold numbers, and the stock forecasting page for more on how Askshelf handles stock.