Only 2 left, and the factory needs four weeks

Published 22 Oct 2026

A low-stock alert tells you how many are left. A supplier order needs a date. Work back from the day the stock must be ready to ship, through the full lead time, to the last day the order can go out. Then work out the quantity, and set the alert level last. With a retailer order coming, that day often falls before the retailer has ordered.

What did the alert say?

On 30 September 2026 an anonymous seller posted on r/ecommerce under the title "Woo’s low stock alert ignores our supplier’s 4-week lead time." The post began:

WooCommerce keeps sending the standard "only 2 items remaining" email alert on Tuesday. The problem? Our factory lead time is 3 to 4 weeks. By the time the email fired, we were already guaranteed to be out of stock for almost a month during our peak season.

The post names WooCommerce, but not what the seller sells or where. It is one account’s own report. Its next line is a plan, "Now I need to build a Google Sheet", and nothing public shows what they did next.

WooCommerce’s core code sets the low-stock email at two by default, and a merchant can change the setting. Whatever number this seller had set, the alert counts units. It carries no date.

Why does two arrive too late?

Say a product sells two a day, an illustrative figure and not the seller’s. Two units cover one day. With a 28-day lead time, an order placed at two leaves about 27 days with nothing to sell.

Daily sales times the lead time in days, plus a buffer called safety stock, gives the stock level at which to order. Planners call it the reorder point. Lead time is the whole wait, from releasing the order to stock that can leave you: making, transport, receiving and checks. If the factory’s quote covers only making, add the rest.

What changes when a retailer order is coming?

A retailer order arrives as one batch on one date. Spread into a daily average, it becomes a few extra units a day and its date disappears. Keep it on its own line, with its quantity and date.

No public order calendar covers Boots, Superdrug or Sephora UK. Superdrug’s published purchase terms say:

The Supplier shall deliver the Goods on the date and time specified in the Purchase Order or otherwise specified by ASW.

ASW is A.S. Watson Health & Beauty UK. Ask the buyer when they expect to send the purchase order, for how many, and when they need the stock. If they give a delivery date, take off transport and acceptance days to find when your stock must be ready.

Anastasia Tozer, co-founder of REHAB, told Retail Gazette on 5 March 2026: "We do discuss with every supplier how quick they can restock." The supplier’s answer to that question is your lead time.

How far back does the date go?

These figures are illustrative and belong to no real seller, brand or retailer. Days are calendar days, with no holidays, delays or rejected stock.

• The buyer expects to order 120 units. The stock must be ready to ship seven days after that order.
• The full lead time is 28 days.
• Your own site sells 2 a day.
• You hold 170 units you can sell, with nothing on order.
• You choose a buffer of 14 units, seven days of site sales.
• The supplier packs in cases of 12.

Count back 28 days from the ready date. That is the last day to release the order, 21 days before the retailer’s order.

Over those 28 days the site sells 56. Add the retailer’s 120 and the buffer of 14, and you need 190. You have 170, so you are 20 short. Round up to two cases, 24 units. After the site sales and the retailer’s batch, 18 are left, above the buffer.

For the site alone, 2 a day for 28 days plus the buffer of 14 gives a reorder point of 70. Up to the last day to order, an alert at two stays silent, and so would one set at 70. You still hold 170 that day. The shortfall comes from the retailer’s 120, which no stock count shows.

Wait for the retailer’s purchase order and seven days remain, against the supplier’s 28. So you spend the cash three weeks before the retailer commits. Write beside the buy how likely the order is and what a cancellation would leave you holding.

Can a stock app work this out?

Several can, when they are given the dates. Prediko sends a repurchase notice when stock is lead time plus safety stock days from running out. Inventory Planner works out a replenish date. It can also hold a wholesale customer’s expected order, with its date and quantity, once that feature is switched on. On Shopify, alerts now come from an alert app or Shopify Flow. The lead-time fields in its Stocky migration guide are for reference only.

Check whether the retailer’s next order is in the app with its date, or only in someone’s inbox.

What do I write down before the next buy?

For each product with a retailer order coming:

1. The retailer’s expected order, its quantity and its date, from the buyer. Mark each one confirmed or expected.
2. The date the stock must be ready to ship, worked back from the buyer’s date. The full lead time, from the supplier.
3. The last day to release the order: the ready date minus the lead time. In the example, 21 days before the retailer orders.
4. The quantity: site sales over the lead time, plus the retailer’s order and the buffer, minus usable stock and stock already due, rounded up to the case. Usable means that retailer will accept it. If stock is already set aside for the order, count the order once. In the example, 24.
5. A name beside each date. The commercial owner confirms the buyer’s dates and quantity. The ops owner confirms usable stock and supplier timing, and sends the order. The founder or budget owner approves any buy ahead of a firm order. Add the next review date, and redo the sums sooner if a date or quantity moves.

Then set the alert at your site’s reorder point. If you review buys weekly, add the days to the next review to the lead time. Keep the retailer’s line beside it, because no count alert will see that order coming.

Antevon’s 2-week audit forecasts what each retailer will sell and puts a date and a price in pounds on each buy that follows.