Several suppliers, several lead times: one reorder point per SKU
If you buy from three suppliers, one store-wide low-stock number is wrong for at least two of them. Restoc holds a lead time per supplier and per SKU, then computes each SKU's reorder point from its own wait against its own sales velocity, so a seven-day line and a sixty-day line never share a trigger.
A reorder point per SKU, because the lead time is per SKU
A reorder point needs two inputs. One is sales velocity, the units a SKU sells per day, measured over a window of 7, 14 or 30 days. The other is lead time, the days between you placing the order and the stock being sellable again. Velocity comes out of your store's sales history. Lead time comes out of your head, because only you know what each supplier actually does.
Change the lead time and the number moves hard. Take a SKU selling four units a day. At a seven-day lead time you need 28 units of cover to get through the wait. At 21 days you need 84. At 60 days you need 240. Same SKU, same velocity, three completely different triggers.
That is why a flat rule like "alert me at 10 units" fails a multi-supplier store twice over. It fires far too early on the lines you can restock next week, so you hold cash in stock you did not need yet. It fires far too late on the lines that ship in a container, so you find out when the SKU is already at zero.
In Restoc the lead time does not live on the store. The scheduled sync brings each SKU's vendor across from Shopify, and a vendor lead times screen in settings holds one lead time per vendor: save 60 days against the glass supplier and every SKU from that supplier with no lead time of its own uses 60. Any SKU that needs a number of its own keeps it, and that per-SKU value wins. On top of lead-time demand sits one store-wide safety stock percentage, so the margin you add for bursty lines is a figure you set, not a figure you guess.
Monday morning, three suppliers, one spreadsheet
The merchant this page is written for runs somewhere between 50 and 2,000 SKUs and buys them from more than one place. Components from one supplier, finished goods from another, packaging from a third. One ships in days, one in weeks, one in months, and one of them is quietly unreliable.
The job is small and it never gets done on time: work out what to order this week, and from whom, before anything hits zero. Most people do it in a spreadsheet with a column of guesses, updated whenever there is a spare half hour. The guesses age badly. A best seller speeds up, nobody notices, and the sale goes to someone else.
The second complaint we hear is about the typing. Merchants think in suppliers, and nobody wants to enter a lead time into hundreds of SKUs one at a time. So the lead time is set where the catalogue already groups itself: on the vendor Shopify already records against each product, with a per-SKU override for the lines that behave differently.
The answer is not a full ERP with purchase orders, receiving and demand forecasting. Most merchants in this position want one thing: the number at which each SKU has to be ordered, honest about the supplier it comes from, and a nudge when a SKU reaches it. Restoc is built for that narrow job and nothing wider.
How a multi-supplier catalogue gets set up
- Connect the store
Restoc installs through Shopify OAuth and pulls inventory levels and sales history, using webhooks plus a scheduled sync job. It is a web app, so you work in a browser; there is no mobile app and no browser extension.
- Let the vendor come across with the sync
The scheduled sync reads each product's vendor from Shopify and stores it against the SKU, then shows it on the dashboard and on the weekly reorder report. Shopify calls the field vendor; on your side of the warehouse door it is the supplier.
- Set one lead time per supplier
The vendor lead times screen in settings lists every distinct vendor in your catalogue with a single lead time field. Enter the days that supplier actually takes, order to doorstep plus the time stock sits before it is sellable. Every SKU from that supplier without its own lead time uses it.
- Override the SKUs that differ
Where one line inside a supplier's range runs on a different wait, enter the lead time on that SKU. A SKU's own lead time takes precedence over its vendor's, so you only type the exceptions.
- Pick the sales velocity window
7, 14 or 30 days, set for the store. Short reacts fast and jumps around, long is steadier and slower to notice a change. Pro adds a per-SKU override when one group of lines moves on a different rhythm.
- Choose a safety stock percentage
One store-wide percentage sits on top of lead-time demand in the reorder point calculation, for items that sell in bursts rather than evenly. The units it adds show as a safety stock column on the dashboard, in the weekly report and in the CSV, so you can see exactly what the buffer is costing you in stock.
- Read the dashboard, then let the alerts watch
Every active SKU shows current stock, days of inventory remaining, safety stock units and its reorder status, sorted soonest to stock out first. An alert fires by email when a SKU crosses its reorder point, with Slack through an incoming webhook on Growth and above, and the weekly reorder report lists every SKU below its reorder point with a suggested order quantity, exportable as CSV.
Same velocity, three lead times, three different triggers
| Where the SKU comes from | Lead time you enter | Units sold per day | Cover needed before the order lands | Trigger with a 25% safety stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local supplier, courier | 7 days | 4 | 28 units | 35 units |
| Domestic supplier, pallet | 21 days | 4 | 84 units | 105 units |
| Overseas supplier, container | 60 days | 4 | 240 units | 300 units |
What changes when the lead time follows the supplier
No averaging across suppliers
You stop picking a compromise lead time that suits none of them. Each SKU is measured against the wait it actually has.
One row per supplier, not hundreds of SKUs
The vendor lead times screen fills every SKU from that supplier that has no lead time of its own, so onboarding a catalogue is a handful of numbers rather than an afternoon of typing.
The supplier is on the screen you order from
The vendor synced from Shopify shows on the dashboard and on the weekly reorder report, so a list of SKUs to order can be read supplier by supplier.
The slow suppliers stop being the ones that bite
A long wait pushes the reorder point up, so the SKU flags while there is still stock on the shelf to sell through the wait.
Safety stock in units, not in your head
The store-wide percentage is applied in the reorder point calculation and the units it adds are shown as their own column, on the dashboard, in the report and in the export.
Days of inventory remaining, sorted by urgency
The dashboard puts current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status side by side and defaults to soonest to stock out first, so you scan the list instead of rebuilding it.
A crossing you did not have to be watching for
Alerts fire when a SKU crosses its reorder point, by email on every plan and by Slack webhook on Growth and above.
One weekly list, split however you want to order
The weekly reorder report gives SKUs below their reorder point with a suggested order quantity, and the CSV export lets you group it by supplier before you send anything.
Plans, by how many SKUs you track
Starter, $29 per month
Up to 200 tracked SKUs, one location. Reorder point per SKU from your velocity and lead time, email alerts, the weekly reorder report with CSV export, and the dashboard. $290 a year pays ten months' price for twelve.
Growth, $59 per month
Up to 1,000 tracked SKUs, five times Starter's capacity and enforced at sync time, plus Slack alerts through an incoming webhook alongside email. $590 billed yearly.
Pro, $99 per month
Up to 2,000 tracked SKUs and custom reorder rules: a per-SKU sales velocity window override. $990 billed yearly. Every plan carries a 60-day free trial and is billed by Shopify on your Shopify invoice.
What Restoc will not do for you
We would rather you read this before you sign up than after.
- Lead time is your input. Restoc does not measure how long a supplier took last time. You enter the days against the vendor, or against the SKU, and you keep them honest when a supplier slips.
- The supplier is a name and a lead time. The vendor comes from Shopify and carries one lead time. There are no supplier contact records and no purchase orders; placing the order stays wherever you place orders now.
- No forecasting. The calculation is sales velocity over your chosen window, against the lead time that applies to the SKU, plus the store-wide safety stock percentage. It does not model seasonality or a promotion you have planned.
- One safety stock percentage. It is set for the store, not per SKU and not per supplier.
- One location per plan. If you hold the same SKU in two warehouses with two different suppliers, that is outside what the plans cover today.
- One lead time per SKU. If you dual-source a SKU, enter the supplier you would actually order it from. The slower one is the safer error.
- Web app only. No mobile app, no browser extension.
If you want the whole calculation written out on a single SKU, or the argument for a 7 against a 30-day window, the pillar pages next to this one go through both.
Questions
Can I really set a different lead time for every SKU?
Yes, and you rarely have to. Lead time is a merchant-entered value: set it once per vendor on the vendor lead times screen and every SKU from that supplier without its own number uses it, then enter a lead time on the individual SKUs that behave differently. A SKU's own lead time takes precedence over its vendor's.
Where does the supplier name come from?
From Shopify. The scheduled sync reads each product's vendor field and stores it against the SKU, then shows it on the dashboard and on the weekly reorder report. If a product has no vendor set in Shopify, there is nothing to group it by, so give that SKU its own lead time.
Does Restoc add safety stock on top of the lead time?
Yes. A store-wide safety stock percentage is applied in the reorder point calculation on top of lead-time demand, and the units it adds appear as a safety stock column on the dashboard, in the weekly report and in the CSV export. It is one percentage for the store, not a figure per SKU. The safety stock page in this pillar goes through how merchants decide what to set it to.
What if I buy the same SKU from two suppliers?
Restoc holds one lead time per SKU, so enter the supplier you would realistically order from if the SKU hit its reorder point today. If that is the slower of the two, the reorder point is higher and you order earlier, which is the safer error for a multi-supplier store.
Can each SKU have its own sales velocity window too?
The velocity window of 7, 14 or 30 days is set store-wide. A per-SKU override on the velocity window is part of the Pro plan's custom reorder rules.
A supplier's lead time just changed. What do I do?
Change the one number on that vendor's row. Every SKU that inherits its lead time from that supplier moves with it, and the reorder point is recalculated from the current inputs the next time stock and velocity are read.
Where do the alerts go?
Email on every plan, sent to your account email address until you change it in alert settings. Slack through an incoming webhook you configure is included from the Growth plan upwards.
Can I use it today?
Not yet. Restoc is on a waitlist while it is finished. Plans start at $29 a month for up to 200 tracked SKUs, each with a 60-day free trial, billed by Shopify on your Shopify invoice rather than a separate card payment.