It came late last time, so you ordered more

Published 22 Oct 2026

A late delivery is a reason to order earlier. Ordering more is a separate choice with its own price. The extra units commit more cash, and they add weeks of stock before they sell. Write both numbers down before you sign the next order. Then decide whether those weeks are worth paying for.

What did Elina Wang say?

Elina Wang is co-founder and CEO of ESW Beauty, a US skincare brand whose products are made in Korea. She spoke to Lindsay Pinchuk on Dear FoundHer, in an episode published on 18 August 2026. In the transcript’s passage from 19:36 to 20:38, she talks about late shipments from the supplier side, starting with raw materials that arrive late and add up. Her lesson:

"Those lessons taught us to buy earlier, ahead of time, and source earlier."

Then she turns to the other side:

if you buy too much inventory, which we’ve done before because we were a little scared about getting products inventory late. So then we were like, "Okay, well, let’s buy a bit more." That leads to some cash flow issues.

She does not name the product or the supplier, how much "a bit more" was, or how long the cash stayed tied up, and I can’t either. "We’ve done before" places the purchase some time before the interview.

Her fix for the late deliveries was to buy earlier. The cash trouble came from buying more.

Has a UK founder said the same?

Niko Antonogiannis co-founded the UK and European arm of Little Ondine in 2014. It sold a peel-off nail polish made in Shanghai, where, he says, the group’s growing Chinese business got priority. Writing on 23 February 2026, he lists delayed shipments and uncertain restocks of key shades. Then:

"To protect against stockouts, we had to order further in advance and hold more inventory. That tied up scarce cash in stock sitting in a UK warehouse."

"On a P&L, revenue looked healthy and margins were decent. In the bank account, cash felt tight."

He is looking back. Little Ondine Ltd went into liquidation on 18 October 2018. He also names too little capital and a retailer that did not pay. He gives no figure for the extra stock or its share of the failure.

What should a late delivery change?

The date you order. Ask when the stock will be ready to sell at your warehouse. Check what has to happen before the maker starts counting the weeks, and add transit and receiving if the quote leaves them out.

UK makers advertise different clocks, each starting at a different point. These are from their own sites, read on 11 October 2026. The lead times were the same on 21 October.

• Hera Beauty gives typically 8 to 10 weeks from order confirmation, subject to raw material availability, with a minimum of 1,000 units per SKU.
• Star Colour Laboratories gives 4 to 6 weeks for a repeat and 10 to 12 weeks for full production, from 1,000 units. Formula, packaging and its schedule can change that.
• Natural Spa Factory gives 13 weeks, counted from order confirmation, deposit, delivery of components and proof approval.

None of these is a promise of capacity. Do not average them, and do not plan on the shortest one.

Say your lead time moves from six weeks to eight. To get the stock on the same day, you order two weeks earlier. The date moves. The quantity stays the same.

Ordering earlier does not make the next delivery certain. Shopify’s method for when to reorder counts the stock you will sell during the lead time and adds safety stock on top. So extra stock can be worth holding. Decide how much delay it should cover before you choose the quantity.

What does "a bit more" cost?

The sum below is illustrative. Every figure and term is made up, and none comes from ESW, Little Ondine, a maker or an Antevon client.

• One product, sent out at 100 units a week to your own customers and retailers together. Adding retailers’ till sales on top would count the same demand twice.
• The planned batch is 800 units. The extra is 400, making 1,200.
• Each unit costs £5 by the time it reaches your warehouse, excluding VAT you can reclaim. The price is the same at both sizes.
• You pay for the whole batch when you order.
• No other stock is on hand or on the way when it arrives.

On those terms, 800 units cost £4,000 and last 8 weeks. 1,200 units cost £6,000 and last 12 weeks. The extra 400 commits another £2,000 and adds four weeks of stock.

That £2,000 pays for stock you still own. You recover it as units sell and as customers and retailers pay you. Four weeks of stock does not tell you when the money reaches your bank.

A buffer can be sized to the delay itself. If the last delivery came two weeks late, two weeks of extra stock covers the same delay again. In the example that is 200 units and £1,000. The 400 cover it twice.

The sum leaves out storage, financing, expiry, returns and price changes. Add any that apply to you.

What do I write down before I sign the next order?

1. The week the stock must be ready to sell, and the order date counted back from the maker’s real start.
2. The extra units on their own line, and what they cost. In the example, 400 units and £2,000.
3. How many weeks the extra lasts at the units you expect to send out. In the example, four. Work it out at 75 a week too, where the same 400 last 5.3 weeks. On 2 October, BDO’s Sophie Michael said UK retailers were deciding stock levels "without visibility of whether consumer demand will materialise."
4. The delay or the orders the extra is meant to cover. If the delay is shorter than the weeks in item 3, write down what the other weeks are for.
5. When you pay for the order, when you expect customers and retailers to pay you, and which other bills fall in between.

You may keep the extra after this, or cut it. If a minimum order sets the quantity, use that number in the sum and check you can fund it. The order is ready to sign when you can say what the extra £2,000 buys and why you can afford to wait for it back.

Antevon’s 2-week audit forecasts what each retailer will sell and prices the decisions that follow in pounds, this one included.