How Safety Stock Replenishment Works

A simple guide to understanding the POS feature that helps your store stay stocked

What Is It?

Imagine you have a lemonade stand. Every day you sell about 10 cups. You need to buy lemons before you run out, but you don't want to buy so many that they go bad.

Safety Stock Replenishment is like a helper that looks at how fast you sell and use things and figures out exactly what to order so you (almost) never run out—and you don't order way more than you need.

The Big Idea (In One Sentence)

The system watches how much you sell and use, counts what you have, and orders just enough to keep your shelves full for the right number of days.

Two Important Numbers You Set

Before the helper can do its job, you tell it two numbers in Purchasing & Receiving → Settings for your location:

1. Min Stock Days

What it means: "Don't let me go below this many days worth of product."

• Example: If you set 7, the system will suggest ordering when you have less than 7 days of product left.

• Think of it as a "warning line." Once you cross it, it's time to buy more.

2. Max Stock Days

What it means: "When I do order, order enough to cover this many days."

• Example: If you set 14, the system will try to order enough so that after the order arrives, you have about 14 days worth of product on hand.

• Think of it as your "target." You're aiming to have this much cushion.

Common setup: Many stores use 18 and 18 as their default numbers as this tends to keep most items in stock with only a few out of stocks.

How the System Figures Out "Days Worth"

Step 1: How many do you sell per day?

The system looks at your last 90 days of sales for each product. It counts:

• Sold (and Layaways)

• Minus returns from customers

• Minus damaged, shrinkage, and store use

That gives a number like: "You sell 2 of these per day on average."

Step 2: How many days do you have right now?

It takes:

• What you have on hand (inventory)

• Plus what's already on an open purchase order

• Divided by how many you sell per day

Example: 20 on hand ÷ 2 per day = 10 days worth.

Step 3: Do you need to order?

If days worth is less than your Min Stock Days → Yes, order!

Step 4: How much to order?

It figures out how many you need so that, after the order arrives, you have about Max Stock Days worth. It also adds in Lead Time (how many days until the supplier delivers). So you don't run out while you're waiting.

Special Rules

Lead Time

The system knows how long it takes your supplier to deliver. That time is built into the math so you don't run out while waiting for the order.

Minimum Order Quantity

Suppliers often say: "You must order at least 12 of this." The system always orders at least that amount.

Products That Have Never Sold

There's a setting: "Purchase products without sales".

• On: If something is out of stock and has never sold, the system can still suggest ordering a small amount (e.g., 1 or the minimum).

• Off: It only suggests products that have sold before.

Seasonal Products

For items that sell only part of the year (e.g., holiday items), the system uses last year's season instead of the last 90 days. So it bases the suggestion on how much you sold when the product was "in season."

Warehouse vs. Store

If you use a warehouse, the system can either:

• Order based on warehouse movement, or

• Order based on store movement that the warehouse supplies

This is controlled by a setting.

Where You Use It

1. Go to Purchasing & Receiving.

2. Open Create Purchase Order.

3. Choose the "Safety Stock Replenishment" tab.

4. Pick your supplier and location.

5. Optionally check "Limit to Only Lowest Cost Supplier Products" if you want the cheapest option per product.

6. Click Generate.

The system creates a purchase order with suggested quantities for all products that meet the rules above. You can review and edit before sending to the supplier.

Summary (Cheat Sheet)

One-Sentence Recap

Safety Stock Replenishment looks at how fast you sell, how much you have, and your settings, then suggests what to order so you stay stocked without over-ordering.