Use the Purchase screen to place purchase orders with your vendors. It can be accessed by clicking the “Purchase” button on the menu.
The purchase screen is comprised of three sections:
Item details
Purchase planning settings
Metrics
Item details
Field | Description |
Image | An image of the variant, taken from Shopify. |
Name | Lists the variant’s name, options and SKU. |
Purchase planning settings
Field | Description | Set by user? |
Lead time | How many days between placing a purchase order for the variant and receiving it into stock.
For example, if it takes a week between ordering inventory and receiving it, the lead time would be “7”.
This figure is usually provided by your vendor.
The start and end dates of the lead time period are calculated and displayed alongside the lead time, based on today’s date.
| Y |
Days of stock | The period in days you’d like to be able to stock inventory for this variant, also known as “stock cover”.
For example, if you want to order enough inventory to last two weeks, you would enter a figure of “14”.
The start and end dates of the days of stock period are calculated and displayed alongside the days of stock, based on today’s date and the variant’s lead time.
| Y |
MOQ | The minimum order quantity.
Your vendor may require you to specify a minimum number of units when placing purchase orders. The MOQ for the vendor you’re filtering by, or the first vendor assigned to the variant which has an MOQ, is displayed here. If your replenishment recommendation is lower than the minimum order quantity, Inventory Planner will scale the quantity to meet it.
| Y |
Metrics
Field | Description | Set by user? |
Forecast | The adjusted forecast for the days of stock period. Clicking on the i icon reveals the adjusted velocity for each month used to calculate the forecast, along with a link to the Forecast details screen, where velocities can be adjusted.
| N |
Inventory | The amount of inventory you have available to sell, as synced from Shopify. | N |
On order | The number of units on active purchase orders which have been ordered, but haven’t yet been received.
Clicking on the i icon reveals a list of the purchase orders containing the on order variants, with the purchase order reference #s, the expected dates, the received/ordered quantities and the remaining number of units. | N |
Requirement | The number of units needed to meet demand during the planning period (today + lead time + days of stock), based on the adjusted forecast for the period, less current inventory and on order quantities expected during the planning period.
Note that forecasted sales during the lead time are included, even when an item is expected to go out of stock. | N |
To order | The requirement adjusted to meet any MOQs. | N |
Purchase date | The last date to place an order to avoid running out of inventory. If you are already out of inventory, the purchase date is today’s date. If the purchase recommendation is zero, you’ll see a metric in the form of “x days until losing $x/day” instead. | N |
Requirement profit | The required units multiplied by the profit per unit – i.e. the projected profit, based on Shopify’s retail and cost prices, for the units to be reordered. | N |
Views, filters, searching and sorting
Views
Views in the Purchase screen are catered to specific workflows. Learn more about how views support workflows here.
Filters
Filters apply within a view. When you apply a filter, you’re filtering on the variants already displayed using that view.
If you’re filtering one view and switch to another, the same filters persist.
The available filters are:
Vendor
Category
Collection
Brand
Purchase date (a date range, from today’s date to a future date)
All are single-select unless otherwise stated.
Searching
The search function allows you to search the current view by product name or SKU. The view will be filtered to only display the results of the search.
Sorting
Every view has a default sorting. However, some column headers can be clicked, allowing you to sort the page by that column instead.
Sorting by a column means the view is no longer considered a standard view. You can click “Reset view” to revert to the default sorting.
Using the purchase screen
Creating purchase orders
You can use the purchase screen to create purchase orders for your required inventory. To create purchase orders, you must:
Filter the Purchase screen by the vendor you wish to create an order for
Select the variants you wish to order
If the screen is not filtered by a single vendor, or if no variants are selected, you will not be able to create a purchase order.
Click the “+ Purchase order” button to create your purchase order. You will be taken to the new purchase order edit screen, where you can modify, save or cancel the order. Learn more about managing purchase orders here.
Bulk actions
You can perform the following actions in bulk:
Set lead times and days of stock
Edit variants
Set lead times/days of stock
Select the variants you wish to update, then click Bulk actions > Set lead time/days of stock.
In the modal window, specify whether you’re updating the lead time, days of stock, or both. Set the values and save your changes.
Edit variants
Select the variants you’d like to edit, then click Bulk actions > Edit variants.
You will be taken to the Variant catalog filtered by the selected items. From there, you can edit the chosen variants. Learn more about editing variants in the Variant catalog here.
Viewing the forecast
You may wish to adjust your forecast before placing purchase orders. You can easily do so by clicking the “View forecast” button at the bottom of the Purchase screen.
The forecast will maintain any filters and views used on the Purchase screen. Additionally, if specific variants are selected, the forecast will be filtered to only include those variants.