The True Cost of Stockouts
When a best-selling product goes out of stock, you lose more than the immediate sale. You lose:
- Immediate revenue — the customer buys from a competitor
- Customer lifetime value — they may never return
- SEO ranking — out-of-stock products lose search visibility
- Ad spend — money spent driving traffic to a page that can't convert
The solution is proactive monitoring — knowing which products are approaching stockout and reordering before they run out.
How PODesk Stockout Prediction Works
PODesk continuously analyzes two data points for every product:
- Sales velocity — how many units you sell per day (based on 30-day rolling average)
- Supplier lead time — how many days from PO to delivery
Using these, it calculates:
- Days until stockout — current stock ÷ daily sales velocity
- Reorder point — the stock level at which you should place a new order
- Suggested reorder quantity — enough to cover lead time + safety stock
The Reorder Point Formula
Reorder Point = (Daily Sales × Supplier Lead Time) + Safety Stock
PODesk calculates this automatically for every SKU, using actual lead times from your supplier directory and real sales data from your Shopify store.
Smart Alerts by Priority
Not every low-stock item needs the same urgency. PODesk prioritizes alerts by:
- Urgent (Red): Stockout imminent (1–3 days remaining)
- Warning (Amber): Should reorder soon (4–7 days remaining)
- Watch (Blue): Approaching reorder point (8–14 days remaining)
This lets you focus on what matters most right now instead of manually reviewing hundreds of SKUs.
One-Click Reorder PO
When you see a restock alert, you can generate a purchase order directly from the alert — all quantities, SKUs, and supplier details are pre-filled. The entire workflow from alert to PO creation takes under 30 seconds.