Reordering before it runs out
Sam, owner and buyer at a cash-and-carry (sample business). Everything low, grouped by supplier, with an AI suggestion that says what it read, then a draft purchase order a person checks and sends.
Reordering before it runs out: guided tour, 6 steps
Step 1 of 6: Everything low, on one page. Products at or under their reorder point are listed together, most urgent first.
Reorder with AI suggestion · sample data← → to move · Esc for the whole screen
11:00Step 1 of 6
Everything low, on one page
Products at or under their reorder point are listed together, most urgent first.
The tour, written down
How to reorder low stock with an AI suggestion and a draft purchase order
Open the reorder plan. Products at or under their reorder point are listed, most urgent first, and grouped by their usual supplier with a quantity already filled in. An AI suggestion, clearly labelled, explains why to order now. One tap makes a draft purchase order, which you check line by line and send yourself.
The most expensive stock problem in a cash-and-carry is not overstock. It is running out of a fast seller on a Friday, when shops want it most and the supplier cannot deliver until Monday. This tour starts with exactly that: cola has about two days left, and the drinks supplier takes two days to deliver. The buyer has this morning to get it right.
Step by step
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Open the reorder plan. Every product at or under its reorder point is on one page, most urgent first. In the tour's sample that is four lines: cola cans with about two days left, ready salted crisps with three, orange squash with four and plain flour with five. You do not have to go hunting through the stock list for them.
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Read the groups by supplier. The lines are grouped by each product's usual supplier. In the sample, cola and squash sit under the drinks supplier, which delivers in two days, while crisps and flour sit under a food supplier that takes four. That grouping matters because a buyer places one order per supplier, not one per product.
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Check the suggested quantities. Each line already has a quantity filled in, enough to bring stock back up. It is a starting point, not a decision. If you know a promotion is coming, or a big customer has just gone quiet, adjust it.
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Read the AI suggestion. Alongside the plan, an AI suggestion looks at how fast each product has been selling over the last weeks and forecasts the next one. It is labelled as AI on the screen, and it only ever suggests.
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Read the reasons, not just the advice. The suggestion says to order cola now because sales are rising and the supplier takes two days. It shows what it read to get there. That is the useful part: you can check the reasoning against what you know. If sales rose because of one big one-off order, you know something the AI does not, and you can order less.
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Make a draft purchase order. One tap turns the supplier's group into a draft purchase order. Every line can still be changed, added to or removed. Nothing has been ordered yet.
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Check and send. Look through the draft the way you would check a supplier's invoice: products, quantities, the cost you expect to pay. When it is right, send it to the supplier your usual way, by email, phone or WhatsApp, and mark it Sent to supplier. EasyTaskr does not send it for you, so until a person does that, nothing goes to the supplier.
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See it waiting for delivery. Once sent, the purchase order sits as expected. When the lorry arrives, goods in will scan this order number and check every line off against what was actually delivered.
The plan in the tour
| Product | Stock | Reorder point | Days left | Supplier group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cola 330ml cans, case of 24 | 38 | 50 | about 2 | Drinks supplier |
| Ready salted crisps, box of 32 | 22 | 30 | about 3 | Food supplier |
| Orange squash 1L, case of 12 | 14 | 20 | about 4 | Drinks supplier |
| Plain flour 16kg, sack | 9 | 12 | about 5 | Food supplier |
A worked example: is two days really enough?
Days left is the stock divided by the daily rate of sale. If 38 cases is about two days, cola is selling at roughly 19 cases a day. The supplier needs two days. If you order this morning and it arrives in two days, you will be close to zero just as the lorry pulls in. If you wait until tomorrow, you will run out for a day.
That is why a reorder point is not just "when it gets low". It is the rate of sale multiplied by the supplier's delivery time, plus a margin for a busy day or a late lorry. At 19 cases a day and two days' delivery, the bare minimum is 38 cases, which is where stock stands right now. A safety margin of a day's sales lifts the reorder point to about 57. The sample's reorder point of 50 sits in between, which is why the AI says order today. Our reorder point guide walks through the sum, and the reorder point calculator does it for any product.
Tips for buyers
- Keep each product's usual supplier set. A product with no supplier cannot be grouped, so it gets left out of the drafts.
- Review reorder points every few months. A product that has doubled its sales needs a higher reorder point, or it will keep turning up as urgent.
- Use the AI's reasons as a prompt. If you disagree with a suggestion, it is usually because you know about a promotion, a lost customer or a price rise. That knowledge is the point of a person checking.
- Send one order per supplier per day. Adding lines to a draft is easier than chasing two half-orders.
Common mistakes
Treating the suggested quantity as an instruction. It is worked out from past sales. It cannot know that your biggest customer just closed.
Ordering by shelf count instead of days left. Fifty cases of a slow line can last weeks; thirty of a fast line may not last the weekend.
Leaving drafts unsent. A draft purchase order orders nothing. If it sits until tomorrow, the delivery is a day later.
Ignoring the supplier's real delivery time. If the supplier says two days but often takes three, use three. A plan built on the brochure lead time will run out.
Why the AI never orders on its own
Buying is where small businesses tie up cash. An automatic order that is twice too big because of one odd week can sit on the shelf for a month. The plan is built so that the software does the counting and the forecasting, and a person decides. That keeps the speed of a suggestion with the judgement of someone who knows the customers.
What to do next
When the lorry arrives, the next step is goods in, where each case is scanned against this purchase order and anything short is recorded. For the thinking behind reorder levels, see stock control. And for a plain look at where AI helps a small business and where it does not, read AI for small business.
Questions people ask
Does the AI place orders with suppliers by itself?
No. The AI only suggests. It creates nothing on its own, and a purchase order made from the plan is a draft until a person checks it and sends it.
How does the reorder plan decide what is low?
A product appears when its stock is at or under its reorder point. The most urgent, the ones with the fewest days left, are listed first.
Why are products grouped by supplier?
Because you order from suppliers, not products. Grouping by each product's usual supplier turns the low-stock list straight into one draft order per supplier.
What does the AI suggestion look at?
It reads recent weeks of sales, forecasts the next period and takes the supplier's delivery time into account. It shows what it read, so you can judge the reasoning rather than take it on trust.
What happens after the purchase order is sent?
It waits for the delivery. When the lorry arrives, goods in checks what came off it against the purchase order line by line.
Can I change the quantities the plan suggests?
Yes. Every line on the draft can be changed or removed before you send it.
