Stock control for small brands: reorder points and avoiding stockouts
Stock control means knowing what stock you have, what's already promised to orders, and when to make or buy more so you don't run out. For a small brand, the core of it is a reorder point for each product: the stock level at which you start the next batch, worked out from how fast it sells and how long a new batch takes. This guide covers reorder points with a worked example, how to avoid stockouts, a spreadsheet you can start with and when to move to a stock control system, stock held at a 3PL, and checking stock against incoming orders.
1. Stock control for a small brand: the four numbers
Stock has more than one number. Track four for every product, and act on available stock.
| Number | What it means | Example: Rosehip Face Oil |
|---|---|---|
| On hand | Units physically on the shelf | 96 |
| Allocated | Units promised to orders you've confirmed but not yet sent | 30 |
| Available | On hand minus allocated: what you can still promise | 66 |
| Incoming | Units in production or on order from a supplier, with a date | 150, ready 24 November |
Kindred Skin, a skincare brand in Leeds, has 96 bottles on the shelf, but only 66 are free to sell. If it quotes 96 to a new stockist, it will either let that shop down or short an order it has already confirmed.
Track the same numbers for anything you can run out of that stops production: jars, bottles, labels, wicks, outer cases. A brand with plenty of sauce and no labels can't ship.
2. Reorder points: when to make or buy more
A reorder point is the available stock level that tells you to start the next batch or place the next supplier order. Set it so the new stock arrives before the old runs out, with a margin for a busy week.
Reorder point = (weekly sales × lead time in weeks) + safety stock
Weekly sales: average units sold a week, across wholesale and any direct sales, from the last 8 to 12 weeks.
Lead time: weeks from deciding to make more to having stock ready to ship, including waiting for ingredients, packaging, curing and labelling.
Safety stock: extra units to cover a big order or a delay. One week of sales is a simple place to start.
Worked example: Kindred Skin's Rosehip Face Oil
It sells 18 bottles a week. A new batch takes 3 weeks: the oil and bottles arrive in the first week, then filling and labelling. Safety stock is one week's sales, 18 bottles.
Reorder point: (18 × 3) + 18 = 72 bottles.
Available stock is 66, below 72, so the next batch should already be under way. It is: 150 bottles are due on 24 November.
The same formula across categories:
| Product | Weekly sales | Lead time | Safety stock | Reorder point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire Chilli Co, Smoked Habanero Sauce | 60 | 2 weeks | 60 | 180 bottles |
| Ember & Wick, Fig & Cedar candle, February to August | 30 | 3 weeks | 30 | 120 candles |
| Ember & Wick, Fig & Cedar candle, September to December | 90 | 3 weeks | 90 | 360 candles |
| Kindred Skin, 30ml amber bottles (packaging) | 18 | 6 weeks | 36 | 144 bottles |
A seasonal product needs a seasonal reorder point. Ember & Wick's lead time includes two weeks for candles to cure, and at its autumn sales rate the summer reorder point of 120 would run out well before the new batch is ready. Packaging needs its own reorder point too, with a longer lead time and often a supplier's minimum order. Kindred Skin's bottle supplier needs 6 weeks, so it holds two weeks of safety stock on bottles instead of one.
For food, check the reorder point against shelf life. Wildfire makes sauce in batches of 240 bottles. At 60 a week, a batch lasts four weeks, well within its best-before date. A slow-selling flavour may need smaller batches, so stock isn't sitting on the shelf for months.
3. How to avoid stockouts
A stockout means a shop's order arrives short, or a reorder goes to another brand while you wait for a batch. These habits catch them early:
- Set a reorder point for every product and every component. Write it next to the stock figure, so anyone looking can see when it's time.
- Check available stock, not stock on the shelf. Allocated stock has already gone, even if it's still in the room.
- Recalculate before your busy season. Use last year's sales for the same months, not the last quiet quarter.
- Ask your biggest stockists what's coming. One farm shop group planning a promotion can take a month's stock in one order. A short email in advance gives you time to make more.
- Pad lead times you don't control. If a label printer says two weeks and has taken three before, plan on three.
- Count fast sellers weekly. Count everything else monthly. Correct the record when the count differs, and note why.
- Tell buyers early when you will run short. A shop told in the order confirmation that a line will follow next week can plan for it. A shop that finds out when it unpacks the box can't.
Watching your stockists' reorder rhythm helps with stock as well as sales. Our guide to wholesale reorders shows how to work out when each stockist is likely to order next.
4. Inventory management for small business: spreadsheet or stock control system?
A spreadsheet is enough to start with, if you update it every time stock moves. Use one row per product and these columns:
| Column | Contents |
|---|---|
| A to B | Product code and name |
| C | On hand, updated when you pack, receive or count |
| D | Allocated, updated when you confirm and dispatch orders |
| E | Available: =C2-D2 |
| F | Reorder point |
| G | Reorder flag: =IF(E2<=F2,"REORDER","") |
| H to I | Incoming quantity and expected date |
| J | Date of last count |
For food, add columns for batch number and best-before date, and keep one row per batch, so you can see which stock to send first.
When to move to a stock control system
A stock control system, such as Unleashed, Breww or Notazone, updates stock as orders and deliveries are recorded, instead of relying on someone remembering to edit a sheet. Consider one when:
- Stock is held in more than one place, such as your unit and a 3PL.
- You need to track batches and best-before dates across many products.
- More than one person updates the spreadsheet, and the numbers drift.
- You make products from components and want stock of ingredients and packaging to fall as you produce.
- Your counts keep disagreeing with the sheet, and you can't tell why.
Stock management for small business: a weekly routine
- Monday: update on hand from last week's dispatches and deliveries in.
- Check every product and component against its reorder point, and start batches or supplier orders for anything flagged.
- Count the fast sellers and correct the record.
- Check incoming dates are still on track, and tell any stockist with a backorder if a date moves.
5. Stock held at a 3PL
When a 3PL holds your stock, the stock figure that counts is theirs, because they pick from it. You still need to know it, and to check it against your own records.
- Tell them what's coming. Before each delivery to the warehouse, send the 3PL the products, quantities, batch numbers and expected date, so they can check it in against your list.
- Check what they booked in. Compare their received figure with what you sent, the same week. A pallet booked in as 10 cases short is easy to trace now and very hard in three months.
- Compare stock weekly. Your expected stock (what you sent in, minus orders they've dispatched) against their figure. Investigate any gap that grows.
- Watch stock they can't sell. Damaged or returned units may be held separately and not counted as available. Ask how they report it.
- Give rotation instructions. For food, ask them to dispatch oldest best-before dates first, and to tell you when stock comes within a set number of weeks of its date.
- Use their lead time in your reorder point. Add the time it takes to get new stock to the warehouse and booked in.
If your 3PL works on Mintsoft or ShipHero, see our pages on connecting DELLI AI to Mintsoft and connecting DELLI AI to ShipHero.
6. Checking stock against incoming orders
Check stock before you confirm an order, not when you start picking it. Every order gets the same three questions: is there enough available stock for every line, does this order take any product below its reorder point, and is anything else already promised from the same stock.
Example: a large order arrives
Wildfire Chilli Co has 300 bottles of Smoked Habanero on hand, with 48 allocated to confirmed orders. Available: 300 − 48 = 252.
A farm shop group orders 30 cases, which is 180 bottles. After it, available stock would be 72, well below the reorder point of 180.
Wildfire can supply the order, so it confirms it and starts the next batch the same day. With 72 bottles left, 60 selling a week and a two-week lead time, it will run short before the batch is ready, so it also tells two regular delis their next order may be split.
When you can't fill every order, decide in advance who gets stock first, such as orders in the order they arrived, or regular stockists before one-off buyers, and stick to it. Then tell each buyer what's coming and when, before you dispatch. Checking stock is one of the steps in our guide to wholesale order management.
Questions about stock control
What is stock control?
Stock control is keeping track of what stock you have, what's promised to orders and what's coming in, and deciding when to make or buy more so you neither run out nor hold too much.
How do you calculate a reorder point?
Multiply your average weekly sales by your lead time in weeks, then add safety stock. A product selling 18 a week with a 3-week lead time and one week of safety stock has a reorder point of 72.
How can a small business avoid stockouts?
Set a reorder point for every product and component, check available stock rather than stock on the shelf, recalculate before busy seasons, and ask big stockists about large orders in advance.
Do I need a stock control system or is a spreadsheet enough?
A spreadsheet works while one person keeps it updated and stock is in one place. Consider a stock control system when stock is in several locations, you track batches and dates, or the numbers keep drifting.
What is the difference between stock on hand and available stock?
Stock on hand is everything on the shelf. Available stock is stock on hand minus anything already promised to confirmed orders, and it's the figure to use when you accept a new order.
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