Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment | FAQs

ShippingEasy Content Team

Updated July 14, 2022 14:56

Available to Existing Inventory Management Subscribers

This feature is only available to existing Inventory Management subscribers. Non-Inventory Management subscribers can learn more about using the ShippingEasy Product Catalog.

We are not currently opening Inventory Management to new users or developing new features or functionality for our Inventory solution. This means that at this time we cannot address the issues you have with the current system.

If you need an inventory solution that lets you add your third-party fulfillment provider to your account, our sister company ShipStation may be a better solution for you.

Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment is a set of metrics and reports that identify how quickly your products sell. With this information, ShippingEasy recommends when and in what quantity to restock each product. You save money by maintaining lean inventory without stockouts! Learn how to set up Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment.

What is Velocity?

Sales Velocity is the rate at which your products are selling. Velocity is calculated by dividing the number of a product’s unit sales by the number of days in a sales history period.

Velocity identifies your fastest and slowest-selling products and helps you decide when and how much to reorder. It can also help you prioritize your marketing budget.

Find the Velocity of your active products in the Sales Velocity Report.

What is Forecasting & Replenishment?

Demand Forecasting uses a product's Sales Velocity to estimate future sales. ShippingEasy makes a Replenishment recommendation based on the estimated sales. The recommendation also takes into account available and awaiting stock. Use the Replenishment recommendation when you reorder from your supplier.

ShippingEasy does the calculating for you! Find Forecasting and Replenishment data for your active products in the Forecasting & Replenishment Report.

Where can I find Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment results in my account?

Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment information is available in four areas.

Inventory Forecasting Reports: The Sales Velocity report contains product sales performance, and the Forecasting & Replenishment report contains replenishment recommendations. You can export either report to a file or schedule delivery via email from the INVENTORY REPORTS page.

Sort Products by Velocity

Sorting and filtering of products by velocity can only be done once a Forecasting Report is downloaded. The items are listed in alphabetical order by SKU on the REPORTS page.
Product Catalog: Velocity and DTR (Days to Reorder) are available columns in the Product Catalog. Learn how to arrange your Product Catalog columns.
Product Details: The details page for each product displays the Velocity, Stockout, and DTR (Days to Reorder) columns.
- For single variant products, these columns are on the Stock tab.
- For variant group products, these columns are in the Product Variants table.
- For bundled products, these columns are in the Stock tab of the bundle SKU and in the Bundled Products table for each of the bundled SKUs.
Create Purchase Order: Both DTR (Days to Reorder) and QTB (Quantity to Buy) are on the Create Purchase Order page to help you make replenishment decisions.
- DTR is the number of days until you need to reorder to avoid stockout. If DTR is greater than 1, you are ahead of the game!
- QTB is the recommended quantity of the SKU to reorder to meet demand through the reorder period.

Sales History and Forecast Period

The calculations displayed on these pages assume a 7-day Sales History and Forecast Period.

To define these time periods, set a Default Sales History and Default Forecast Period on the INVENTORY SETTINGS page.

What do each of the Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment terms mean?

Sales Velocity

Units Sold: The number of units of a product sold in the Sales History Period.
Velocity: The rate at which a product sold in units per day.

Forecasting & Replenishment

Sales History: The historical time period used to determine the number of sales.
Forecast Period: The time period used to forecast sales (may be the same as your reorder frequency).
Available Stock: The current available stock for a product.
Awaiting Stock: The current awaiting stock based on open Purchase Orders for a product.
Stockout: The number of days until Available Stock reaches zero.
Lead Time: The number of days between when you place a Purchase Order and when you receive the ordered product.
Reorder Period: Calculation of the Forecast Period plus Lead Time.
Lead Demand: Projected demand during the Lead Time.
Projected Available: Remaining Available Stock, taking into account Awaiting Stock and Projected Sales.
Projected Sales: Projected sales during the Reorder Period.
DTR (Days to Reorder): The number of days until a Purchase Order must be placed to avoid stockout.
QTB (Quantity to Buy): The recommended quantity to buy to have enough inventory to fulfill all orders through the Reorder Period.

How often do the Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment numbers update?

Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment metrics are calculated nightly to account for sales and changes to orders from the day. You'll see updated numbers in your account and on the Sales Velocity and Forecasting & Replenishment Reports each morning.

What is In-stock Expectation %?

In-stock Expectation % is the threshold you set for the probability that your products will be in stock. ShippingEasy uses this percentage when making a Replenishment recommendation. Select a lower percentage if you want to avoid the possibility of overstock or reduce spending on inventory.

In-stock Expectation probability can be set to Highest (99%), Higher (95%), or High (90%). Learn how to set In-stock Expectation % on the INVENTORY SETTINGS page.

How does Velocity, Forecasting & Replenishment account for my FBA inventory?

On the Sales Velocity report, the Sales and Velocity numbers will include shipments originating from Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) if you import your FBA shipments into ShippingEasy.

On the Forecasting & Replenishment report, the Stockout, Projected Available, DTR, and QTB values will take your FBA inventory into account if you import FBA stock levels. Learn more about importing FBA stock levels.

For FBA Forecasting, we recommend using the Store filter on the Forecasting & Replenishment report to display data from your Amazon store only. This configuration will use your Amazon sales, including FBA-originated shipments, to determine the Velocity used to forecast future sales. Using a simple estimation of the percentage of Amazon sales that are FBA-originated, you can calculate the proportion of the Projected Sales and QTB to designate to FBA.

Why are "Stockout" and "DTR" blank?

ShippingEasy can only calculate Stockout and DTR (Days to Reorder) if a product has a positive Sales Velocity. Both Stockout and DTR rely on Velocity to determine how many days of inventory remain and the number of days until you need to reorder inventory.

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