The Restock page shows which products are out of stock and losing sales, which ones run out next, and roughly how many of each to order. You collect them in your restock list, check the quantities, and copy one order for each supplier.
You will learn #
- How to see which products need stock first
- How to fill your restock list all at once, or one product at a time
- How Tendlio works out each order quantity, and when to change it
- How to copy the order for each supplier
Before you begin #
- Run an analysis first. The Restock page works from your last analysis, so it needs one with some sales history in it. If the page says “No forecast yet”, run an analysis from the To do page.
- Keep stock counts in WooCommerce. Tendlio can only warn you before a product runs out if WooCommerce counts its stock. On the product’s Inventory tab, that means Track stock quantity for this product is checked (next to Stock management) and a Quantity is filled in. If you don’t count a product’s stock, Tendlio can’t warn you ahead of time, and the product joins the list of products to restock only once it has sold out and is losing sales.
- Tell Tendlio who you buy from (optional). With a Supplier set on each product, your restock list splits into one order per supplier. If a supplier sells in packs, add the Pack size too, and the quantities round up to whole packs. Both fields are in the Tendlio section of the product’s General tab in WooCommerce.
- Add your suppliers’ details (optional). Under Inventory → Suppliers → Your suppliers, give each supplier a Lead time (days) and a Minimum order. With the lead time, Tendlio marks in red the products that would run out before that supplier could deliver. If you don’t give a supplier a lead time, Tendlio uses the Default lead time in Settings → General → Inventory. With the minimum, Tendlio tells you when an order is too small for that supplier.
Open the Restock page #
- In your WordPress admin, open Tendlio → Inventory.
- Click Restock. It’s with the other Inventory pages, next to Products & insights.
See which products need stock first #
The cards at the top of the page, under Stock running out, count what needs attention:
- Out now and losing sales counts the products that are out of stock and were selling before they ran out. Under the number you see how much revenue they’re missing each month. A product that never sold isn’t counted, because restocking it wins nothing back.
- Out within 7 days and Out within 14 days count the products that, by their 30-day forecast, will run out within 7 or 14 days.
- Out within 30 days counts the products that run out within your Stockout warning, a setting under Settings → General → Inventory that shows in Advanced mode. The warning is 30 days unless you’ve changed it, and then the card’s title shows your number instead of 30. The card only shows when your warning is longer than 14 days.
Under the cards, the What’s running low table lists the products themselves. Sold-out products come first, with the biggest loss at the top. After them come the products closest to running out. A product whose supplier takes longer to deliver than the list looks ahead joins it once it needs an order within 7 days.
The Runs out in column tells you how urgent each product is:
- A red number means the product runs out before its supplier could deliver a new order. Order it now.
- An orange number means you have 7 days or less left to order it. With a 14-day lead time, that’s from day 14 to day 21.
- Out now means it’s already sold out. Hover over it to see the date Tendlio first saw it out of stock.
- A dash means WooCommerce doesn’t count this product’s stock, so there’s nothing to count down.
The Order within column tells you how many days you have left to place the order so it arrives before the product runs out: the days of stock left, minus its supplier’s lead time. It turns orange at 7 days or less. A red Today means the product will run out before any order can arrive; next to it you see about how many days it will be without stock. A sold-out product also says Today.
Tip: Click a column title with a dotted line under it to sort by that column. Sorting by Runs out in puts the product that has been sold out longest at the top. Click the title again to reverse the order.
Fill your restock list #
- Next to Cover, type how many months of stock each order should cover, and click Update. It starts at 3 months.
- If you order brand by brand, open Brands: all, tick the brands you’re ordering, and click Apply. The table and the button in the next step then cover only those brands. (The picker only appears when your products have brands.)
- Click Add everything that needs restocking. If you picked brands, the button names them instead (the first two and a count, when you pick more than two).
- Read the message that appears over your restock list. It tells you how many products were added. It also tells you if any were skipped because they’re out of season, or because the list is full (it holds up to 1,000 products).
You can also add products one at a time: click + Restock on any row in What’s running low, and the button changes to Added ✓.
Pressing Add everything that needs restocking again is safe. Products already on your list stay as they are, including any quantity you’ve typed in yourself.
Check the order quantities #
Your list appears under Your restock list, grouped by supplier. Tendlio works out an Order qty for every product in it:
- The quantity is meant to last for the months you chose. Tendlio works it out two ways and uses the bigger number: what the product sold in the same months last year and the year before (last year counts more), and what it would sell in that time at its current pace.
- If WooCommerce counts the product’s stock, Tendlio takes what’s on your shelf off that number. It reads your stock at the moment you open the page, not from your last analysis, because this number goes on an order to your supplier: a delivery that arrived after the analysis would otherwise be ordered a second time.
- If the product has a pack size, the quantity rounds up to whole packs, and the row shows it, for example “2 packs of 12”.
Some rows have a note under the quantity:
- stock not tracked, nothing taken off means WooCommerce doesn’t count this product’s stock, so the quantity is the full amount.
- A ? next to the quantity means there’s no sales history for these months yet, so the number is based only on how the product sells now. Take a second look at it before you order.
- not a full pack of 12 means you typed a quantity that doesn’t fill whole packs. Tendlio leaves your number as you typed it.
To change a quantity, type the number you want. Tendlio keeps your number until you change it again, and if you clear the field, its own suggestion comes back. To take a product off the list, click Remove. To empty the whole list, click Clear list.
Important: The quantities are only as good as your stock counts. If the stock numbers in WooCommerce are out of date, treat the run-out dates and the quantities as rough estimates.
Check a supplier’s minimum order #
If you’ve entered a Minimum order for a supplier, that supplier’s group adds up the order at your cost prices and shows the total, for example “This order comes to about $1,240 at cost.” A * after the amount means Tendlio estimated some of those costs from your average margin.
When the total is under the minimum, the group says how much is missing, for example “$260 short of this supplier’s $1,500 minimum.” Under that, Tendlio suggests up to three more products from the same supplier, each with its own + Restock button. It picks the ones closest to needing a restock, with anything already sold out at the top, and it leaves out products that are out of season.
If some products in the group have no cost price, the total leaves them out and says how many. If none of them have one, the group says it can’t check the minimum and links to Fill in the missing costs.
Copy the order and send it #
- Find the group for the supplier you’re ordering from. Products without a supplier are in the last group, No supplier set.
- Click Copy this order. Tendlio copies one line for each product with its quantity, and leaves out products with a quantity of 0.
- Paste the order into an email to your supplier, or into their order form.
Tendlio doesn’t contact your suppliers. You send each order yourself.
Once an order is placed, remove those products from your list, or click Clear list. The list keeps everything until you remove it, so if you leave products on it, they’ll be in your next order too.
Why the list works this way #
Sold-out products come first #
A sold-out product that was selling is losing sales today, and a product that runs out next month isn’t losing any yet. A sold-out product has no run-out date left. If the list were sorted by run-out date alone, sold-out products would end up below everything that still has a date, so a best-seller that sold out last week would sit under a product with a month of stock left.
Products out of season are skipped #
Add everything that needs restocking leaves out seasonal products while they’re out of season. These are products Tendlio knows are seasonal, from seasonal detection or from a season you set on the product. Stock you order now would sit unsold until their next season. If you still want to restock one, add it yourself with + Restock.
Quantities round up to whole packs #
A supplier who sells in packs of 12 can’t send you 7. Tendlio asks for 12 instead. Rounding down would turn “you need 7” into “order none”.
How far ahead the list looks #
The list shows everything that’s sold out and losing sales, plus everything that runs out within the months you’re ordering for. With Cover at the 3 months it starts at, that’s the next 90 days. If your stockout warning reaches further than that, the list uses the warning instead. The cards stop at your stockout warning, so the table can list more products than the cards count.
To see every product that has a forecast, not only the ones that need restocking, click Show all … products with a forecast over the table.
When you can’t order everything #
If cash is tight, cover your fastest sellers first and order less of the slow ones. A supplier’s minimum order can work against that, because it can push you into buying more than you need. Buying extra on purpose is fine. It gets expensive when it happens without you noticing, so once you’ve entered a supplier’s minimum, their group shows the order’s total next to it.
About the Forecast page #
The Forecast page, next to Restock, shows day by day the orders and revenue Tendlio expected, next to the ones you got. Tendlio’s forecast for each day comes from the same week and weekday in the past two years, with last year counting more. Every finished day shows how far it landed above or below the forecast, and the cards over the calendar say whether the whole period is ahead of the forecast or behind it. Reading the Forecast page explains the cards, the calendar and the other periods.
Additional resources #
- How to set up your suppliers and order from each one: lead times, order emails, minimum orders, and a restock list for each supplier.
- Forecast & “runs out in”: how the 30-day forecast, and the run-out date it gives, are worked out.
- Reading the Forecast page: your whole store’s orders and revenue against the forecast, day by day.
- How to use the Tendlio fields on a product: the Supplier and Pack size fields.
- How to set up seasonal detection: how Tendlio finds seasonal products.
- Reorder point formula for WooCommerce
Frequently asked questions #
Why is a product I sell every day missing from the list? #
The list only holds products that are sold out and losing sales, or that run out within the days named over the table. If WooCommerce doesn't count that product's stock, Tendlio can't tell when it will run out, so the product joins the list only once it has sold out. Click Show all … products with a forecast to see it, or add it with + Restock.
Why did the button add fewer products than the table shows? #
Products out of season are skipped, products already on your list aren't added again, and the list holds up to 1,000 products. The message after the button tells you which of these happened.
Can Tendlio send the order to my supplier? #
No. You copy the order and send it yourself. On the Suppliers page, a supplier with an order email gets an Email order button that opens the order in your own mail app. A very long order is copy-only.
Do the run-out dates change when a delivery arrives? #
The order quantities do, because Tendlio reads your stock when you open the page. The run-out dates and the cards come from your last analysis, so they update after the next one.