Ask any retailer what keeps them up at night and "how much should I order" comes up a lot. Order too much and your money sits on a shelf instead of in your pocket. Order too little and a customer walks out empty-handed, maybe to a shop down the road. It sounds like a small thing, but getting this right can make or break how well a shop actually runs.
So how do you actually figure out the right number?
Look at what's already selling
Forget guessing. If you sell 20 packets of a certain biscuit every week, that's your baseline. Not what the supplier suggests, not what feels right, just your own numbers. If you're new to a product and don't have history yet, order a smaller amount first, see how it moves over a couple of weeks, then adjust from there.
Match your order to your delivery schedule
Think about how many days pass between deliveries. If you're restocked every 7 days, you need enough on hand to comfortably last that week, plus a little extra in case a delivery runs a day late.
A rough way to work it out: take your weekly sales, divide by 7, then multiply by the number of days until your next delivery. Add a small buffer on top. If you sell 20 packets a week and reorder weekly, you're probably looking at ordering somewhere around 23 to 25 packets once you add that cushion.
Keep the safety buffer small
A buffer is there to protect you if sales pick up unexpectedly or a delivery gets delayed. Somewhere around 10 to 15% extra is usually enough. Any more than that and you're just tying up cash that could be used elsewhere in the shop.
Don't ignore the calendar
Some products sell the same amount all year round. Others move a lot faster at certain times, cooking oil and rice before Ramadan, cold drinks in the middle of summer, snacks around school holidays. If you know a spike is coming, start increasing your order a few weeks ahead rather than waiting until shelves are already empty.
Treat fast movers and slow movers differently
Your best-selling items like tea, oil, and biscuits deserve tighter, more frequent ordering since they turn over quickly. Slower items are better ordered in smaller batches, even if it costs a little more per unit. That's still cheaper than stock sitting untouched for months.
Check in regularly
This isn't something you figure out once and forget. Every few weeks, take a look at what's moving faster than expected and what's gathering dust. Small adjustments made often will help your shop's cash flow far more than trying to get one perfect formula.
At the end of the day, the right order quantity comes down to knowing your own shop, not following a generic rule. If you're working with us, talk to your contact about what you're seeing on your shelves. We work with enough shops to spot patterns, and we're glad to help you fine-tune your ordering as you go.
