Low stock alerts or low inventory alerts are used to let you know when it's time to reorder stock. They can be set for your whole store or can be customized at the SKU level. The frequency of the alerts and what information they contain can also be tailored to suit your needs.
What triggers an alert?
A low stock alert is triggered when the current stock levels are less than or equal to the minimum stock (safety stock), and/or when the stock by the end of the planning period (as defined by the variant's lead time and days of stock) is less than or equal to the minimum stock.
You can also have vendor alerts, which alert you if a product's current stock level is approaching a vendor's minimum order quantity.
Default alert settings
Your default alert settings allow you to set the alert behavior for all products in your store at once.
To customize the default alert settings, go to Account > Settings > Forecast, and scroll down to the Alerts section.
Here you can specify the email addresses to send the alerts to. You can enter multiple email addresses, ensuring everyone who needs to be alerted receives the relevant information.
You can also specify how often you should receive the emails.
In the section below, you can configure your low stock alerts. The settings are:
Setting | Description |
Enabled | Toggle whether to enable default low stock alerts. |
Notify in advance | Enabling notify in advance tells Inventory Planner to send you an email on your product's replenish date, based on its lead time, instead of when it reaches the minimum safety stock. |
Delta alerts | If enabled, Inventory Planner will only notify you on the first date an item reaches its replenish date. Even if the variant is not ordered that day, it will not be included in future notifications.
Delta alerts are not recommended if alerts are disabled on certain days of the week, as you may miss some items that need to be ordered if they meet the alert criteria on a day when alerts are disabled. |
Exclude variants with negative stock | Stop alerts for variants with a stock level below zero, useful if you allow backorders or preorders. |
Exclude hidden variants | Stop alerts for variants you have marked as hidden. |
Minimum safety stock level
A minimum safety stock level gives you a fixed buffer to help minimize the possibility of overselling. It is added to any replenishment recommendation. Learn more about minimum safety stock levels here.
You can set a minimum safety stock level for individual variants in the Replenishment report. You can also set a default minimum safety stock level under Account > Settings > Forecast, to be used for all variants without one.
Tip: Inventory Planner recommends adding to your days of stock so that you have a dynamic buffer for your supply chain. Using safety stock uses a static number, meaning this will not grow as your store grows. To read more, check out our blog, The case against safety stock.
Alerts by location or warehouse
If you would like to receive low stock alerts or low vendor alerts for some warehouses but not others, go to Account > Settings > Connections and warehouses.
Click the cog beside the warehouse you wish to change the alert settings for.
Enable or disable the "Enable low stock alerts" and/or "Enable vendor low stock alerts" settings for that warehouse using the button at the bottom of the screen.
Set alerts for variants in bulk
If you'd like to customize your alerts for some, but not all, of the variants in your store, you can do so in bulk. There are a couple of different methods.
Catalog
Go to Catalog > Warehouses. Filter the report to display the variants you'd like to amend.
Next to each variant, check the "Custom alert" checkbox to override your default alert settings. You'll have to do this for each warehouse.
Enable or disable "Enable alerts" and/or "Notify in advance", then save your changes.
Bulk actions
You can also set low stock alerts in the Replenishment report using Bulk actions.
Go to Replenishment, and change the warehouse at the top of the page to relevant warehouse. Then select the variants whose alerts you want to configure.
Click "Bulk actions", then "Set low stock alert".
In the popup, customize your alerts for the variants you've selected in the warehouse specified.
Set alerts for individual variants
You can also set an alert for a single variant at a time. In Replenishment, click on the Details icon next to the variant you wish to customize, then click into the Warehouses tab.
Enable "Custom alert" to override your default alert settings. Then enable or disable "Alerts" and/or "Notify in advance" and save your changes.
