How to manage low stock effectively

In this guide, we'll show you different methods to monitor products that are running low on stock in Turbo Inventory. Whether you're looking for quick ways to react to low stock or prefer a more proactive approach, Turbo Inventory offers several tools to keep your stock levels in check.

1. Quickly Identify Low Stock with Product Filters

The easiest way to check what products are running low on stock is by using the built-in filters. Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Products: Go to your products list.

2. Clear Filters: Clear any current filters applied to the list.

3. Apply a Filter for Inventory Remaining:

   • Add a new filter by selecting Days of Inventory Remaining.

   • Set the filter to show products with less than a specific number of days remaining, such as 30 days.

This will display all products that are likely to sell out within the next 30 days, based on current sales trends. You can adjust the filter to see products with less than any number of days remaining, making it a fast and reactive way to check stock levels.

2. Using Low Stock Alerts

If you prefer a more structured approach to monitor low stock levels, you can set up low stock alerts:

1. Set a Low Stock Alert on a Product:

   • Edit a product and go to the Low Stock Alert section.

   • Set a minimum quantity (e.g., 5 units). When the stock level drops below this threshold, the product will show up in your low stock alerts.

   • Save the changes.

2. Run Reordering Reports:

   • Navigate to Purchasing and run a reordering report to identify products that are oversold, over-allocated, or below your low stock threshold.

   • This report can be filtered by warehouse and time frame, ensuring you see the most relevant data for restocking.

   • The report will highlight products that need to be reordered based on their sales, stock allocation, and low stock status.

3. Proactively Managing Stock with Alerts

For a proactive approach, you can set up email alerts to notify you about low stock levels daily.

1. Set Up User Alerts:

   • Go to Settings > Tools and select the user to whom you want to assign the alert.

   • Subscribe them to the Stock Alert for Low Stock notification.

   • This will send an email every morning at 8 AM listing all products that are below the low stock threshold.

The system automatically removes products from the list if they haven't been sold in the past 60 days, making it a more dynamic and accurate system.

4. Forecasting to Predict Stock Needs

For a more detailed, data-driven approach, you can use Turbo Inventory’s forecasting tools to predict when you’ll need to reorder products.

1. Run a Forecasting Report:

   • Navigate to Analytics and run a forecast report.

   • Choose a time period, such as the last 5 years, to predict future stock needs.

   • The report will calculate how many months or days of stock remain based on sales history and forecasted demand.

2. Generate Purchase Orders:

   • Once the forecast is complete, you can select products and generate a purchase order directly from the report. This helps ensure you’re ordering the right amount of stock ahead of time.

5. Automated Order Suggestions

Turbo Inventory also offers an automated order suggestion feature that combines various factors like stock forecasting, low stock alerts, and current stock levels.

1. Generate Suggested Orders:

   • Go to the product’s Supplier page and select Suggest Order.

   • The system will use a combination of your forecasting data, oversold, over-allocated products, and low stock alerts to recommend how much stock to order from a supplier.

This feature is particularly useful if you place frequent orders with the same supplier and want to streamline your purchasing process.

Conclusion

Turbo Inventory offers both reactive and proactive methods for managing low stock levels. Whether you're using quick filters to identify products running low on stock or implementing more advanced forecasting and automated order suggestions, you can ensure your business stays on top of inventory needs and avoids stockouts.