Low-Stock Alerts: How to Know When to Reorder

The two costs of getting it wrong

• Ordering too late: the item runs out, the customer buys elsewhere, and may not come back.
• Ordering too much: money sits on the shelf, items expire, and there is no room for what actually sells.

A reorder level is the quantity at which you should order again, so new stock arrives before the old runs out.

1. Choose a level for each item

A simple rule of thumb that works for most shops:

For example, if you sell 6 bottles a day and the supplier delivers in 3 days, you need 18 bottles to cover the wait. Add a margin of, say, 6 for busy days, and your level is 24. Fast-selling items with slow suppliers need higher levels; items you can buy around the corner need lower ones.

In Amunta Business, set a low-stock alert on the item: you are alerted when its stock reaches that level or below. Leave the field empty to remove it.

2. Set many items at once

You do not have to open items one by one. Select several items — a whole shelf of similar products — and give them the same alert level in one step. Then fine-tune the few that sell faster.

3. One calm alert a day

Turn on the daily low-stock alert. You get at most one notification a day, and only when an item has newly reached its level since the last alert. An item that is already low does not nag you every day; if it goes back above its level and falls again, it counts as new.

Any time you want the full picture, the stock list shows how many items are low and lets you list only those, with items that went below zero counted separately.

4. From shortage to purchase order

When it is time to order, create a purchase draft for shortages. Each low item goes into a draft for the supplier you last bought it from, at the last price and the last quantity you bought — your usual batch. An item you have never bought gets the quantity that brings it back to its level.

• A draft does not change your stock or your cash until you issue it, so you can adjust quantities or prices first.
• Items already in an open purchase draft are not added again, so pressing the button twice does not create a double order.

5. Review your levels from time to time

Sales change with the seasons. If an item keeps running out before the new stock arrives, raise its level. If it sits on the shelf long after the alert, lower it. A quick look every month or two keeps the levels honest.