A reorder point is the inventory level at which you should place your next supplier order — early enough that new stock arrives before you hit zero. Set it too low and you stock out while the shipment is in transit; set it too high and cash sits in shelves. Here's the standard formula and how to actually apply it to a Shopify catalog.
| SKU | Sells/day | Lead time | Safety stock | Reorder point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steady bestseller | 4 | 10 days | +15 (≈40%) | 55 |
| Slow mover | 0.3 | 14 days | +2 | 6 |
| Long-lead import | 2 | 45 days | +30 (≈33%) | 120 |
Notice the long-lead SKU: its reorder point is 120 units even at 2 sales/day. Long lead times are where "I'll reorder when it looks low" fails hardest — by the time it looks low, you're already six weeks from replenishment.
The number you calculate today is wrong in three months. Velocity shifts with seasons, ads, and product life cycles; suppliers change lead times. Merchants who maintain spreadsheet reorder points either recalculate constantly or (more commonly) stop trusting the numbers. The fix is recomputing from live sales data — which is tedious by hand and trivial for software.
Supply Radar computes suggested reorder points per SKU from your actual sales velocity and each supplier's lead time, and keeps them fresh as demand changes. You can accept suggestions wholesale, or set a store-wide default and only fine-tune bestsellers. When stock crosses the line you get an instant alert, and one click turns it into a supplier-ready purchase order.
Smart reorder-point suggestions are part of the Purchasing plan at $19/mo flat (14-day free trial); manual thresholds with alerts start free.
Automate reorder points — install Supply Radar© 2026 Radar Labs