Import lead times from a spreadsheet or exported CSV
Your lead times already exist somewhere, in a supplier spreadsheet or a CSV exported from another stock app, so you should not have to retype them SKU by SKU. Restoc gives you a CSV template of your tracked SKUs, takes your filled-in file back as an upload, and shows you a preview before anything is saved.
Restoc is not open yet, so anything on this page about what it does is what it is being built to do.
What this article covers
A reorder point needs two things: a sales velocity window and a lead time in days for the SKU. The window is a shop setting. The lead times are yours, and on a catalogue of a few hundred SKUs, typing them one row at a time is the slowest part of setup.
Use this article when you already hold lead times somewhere else: a supplier spreadsheet, a CSV exported from another stock app, or a list a colleague keeps. You will end with lead times saved against your tracked SKUs, and reorder points computed from them.
If you have not connected your store yet, do that first. The template is built from the SKUs Restoc has synced from Shopify, so an empty catalogue gives you an empty file.
Import your lead times
- Download the lead time template
Open Settings in Restoc, go to the screen where per-SKU lead times live, and download the CSV template. It comes out already listing your tracked SKUs, with your own SKU code on each row, so you are matching against the catalogue Restoc has rather than guessing.
- Put your days into the lead time column
Open the template next to your own spreadsheet or export and fill the lead time column. One whole number of days per row, between 1 and 365. Leave a row blank if you do not know it yet and come back to it later.
- Add a vendor column if you buy by supplier
If your file carries a vendor for each SKU, the import also fills vendor lead times from it. A vendor lead time covers every SKU from that vendor that has no lead time of its own, so one row can settle dozens of SKUs.
- Upload the file
Go back to the same screen and upload your saved CSV. Nothing is written yet at this point.
- Read the preview before you save
Restoc shows you a preview of the import first: what it read from your file, and what it will set. Check a few rows you know by heart. If the file is wrong, fix the spreadsheet and upload it again instead of saving.
- Save, then check one reorder point
Save the import. Restoc combines each SKU's lead time with your sales velocity window of 7, 14 or 30 days, works out the reorder point, and starts watching that SKU. Pick one SKU you know well and confirm the number looks like the one you would have reached by hand.
If it did not take, or you want to change it later
Some SKUs still show no lead time
They were blank in your file, or they are not in the synced catalogue the template was built from. Download the template again: the rows you see are the SKUs Restoc is tracking. If a SKU is missing from that list, the problem is the sync, not the import.
A vendor lead time is not being used
A lead time saved on the SKU itself wins. Vendor lead times only fill the SKUs that have none of their own, which is what you want when one supplier is the rule and a handful of SKUs are exceptions.
Lead times change
Suppliers move. Fill the column again and upload a new file when they do, and read the preview the same way before saving.
If an import will not go through and the preview does not tell you why, email support@restocapp.com with the file attached.
Questions
Will the import overwrite lead times I already typed in?
The preview comes first, so you see what the file will set before anything is saved. If a row would change a lead time you are happy with, take it out of the file and upload again.
Can I import the sales velocity window as well?
No. The velocity window is a setting in the app, and it is 7, 14 or 30 days. The Pro plan adds a per-SKU override of that window. The import covers lead times.
Can I import vendor lead times without touching per-SKU ones?
Yes, when your file has a vendor column. Those rows fill the vendor lead times, which apply to SKUs with no lead time of their own.
What if my catalogue is bigger than my plan allows?
Tracked SKUs are capped per plan and enforced at sync time: 200 on Starter, 1,000 on Growth, 2,000 on Pro. The template lists the SKUs Restoc is tracking, so SKUs above your cap will not appear in it.
Do I need a card to try this during the trial?
No. Every plan carries a 30-day free trial and starting it needs no card. Paid plans are billed on your Shopify invoice.
What happens once the lead times are in?
Restoc computes a reorder point per SKU, emails you when a SKU crosses it, sends it to a Slack webhook on Growth and above, and lists the SKUs below their reorder point in the weekly reorder report with a suggested order quantity.