--- title: "Inventory Insights: Reorder Dates and Slow Stock | Product Metrics" description: "A reorder date per product from projected demand, lead time and safety buffer. Slow stock comes with its reason, and stock cover reaches your Google Shopping labels." canonical: "https://www.productmetrics.io/inventory-insights" pageType: feature language: en publisher: "Product Metrics" dateModified: 2026-09-30 image: "https://www.productmetrics.io/og/inventory-insights.png" --- > Content index: https://www.productmetrics.io/llms.txt # Stock that sells. Stock that sits. Know both before it costs you. Reorder best sellers in time, stop paying for clicks on stock you can’t deliver, and free the capital in stock that sits. Projected stock, Nike Pegasus 42 (illustrative): | | Value | | --- | --- | | On hand | 1,240 pairs | | Cover | ≈16 weeks | | Projected demand | 62 → 93 a week | | Clicks, 30 days | 4,820, rising | | POAS | 1.40 vs 2.00 target | | Supplier lead time | 12 weeks | | Safety buffer | 4 weeks | | Without a reorder | Stockout, 20 Jan | Reorder date = stockout date minus lead time minus safety buffer. - **Suggested action.** Reorder 1,200 pairs today Stock lands 23 Dec with exactly 4 weeks of buffer. Wait longer and the buffer starts to shrink. _Example scenario with Nike products. Performance data is illustrative. Product Metrics is not affiliated with Nike, adidas or PUMA._ ## Running out costs revenue. Sitting still costs capital. Product Metrics flags both early. You decide. ### About to run out The warning comes when that product’s reorder window opens, not at one threshold for all your products. Output: reorder date. Example: Nike Pegasus 42: | | Nike Pegasus 42 | | --- | --- | | List price | €139.99 | | Stock | 1,240 pairs, ≈16 weeks of cover | | Segment | Question Marks | | Reorder | Reorder today, then 12 weeks lead time | | Safety buffer | Buffer 4 weeks | | Rule | Lead time + buffer = cover | | Stockout without reorder | 20 Jan | _Signals it uses_ - Projected demand - Lead time - Safety buffer - Stock on hand - **You decide.** Reorder and keep scaling, or lower ad priority until stock lands. ### Moving too slowly A product nobody sees needs exposure. One everyone clicks but few buy needs less spend. Context tells them apart. Output: the reason why. Example: Nike Club fleece crew: | | Nike Club fleece crew | | --- | --- | | List price | €59.99 | | Stock | 1,520 units, 38 weeks of cover | | Segment | Dogs | | Exposure | High, 2,960 clicks | | Return | POAS 0.80 vs 2.00 | | Season | Peak Nov–Feb | | Stock value at list price | €91.2K | | Left in March | ≈275 units | _Signals it uses_ - Exposure - Product age - Seasonality - Stock quantity and value - Expected demand - **You decide.** Free the capital, or give a hidden product exposure. _Example scenario with Nike products. Performance data is illustrative. Product Metrics is not affiliated with Nike, adidas or PUMA._ ## Your campaigns know what’s on the shelf. Stock cover feeds Product Score and lands in Merchant Center as a custom label. How stock cover changes the ad priority label of five example products: | Product | Segment | Stock cover | custom_label_1 | Why it changed | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Nike Pegasus 42 (€139.99, supplier lead time 12 weeks) | Question Marks | ≈16 weeks | high, kept | Reorder today, so a rising Question Mark can keep scaling through the season. | | Nike Vomero 18 (€159.99, supplier lead time 12 weeks) | Stars | 3 weeks | high → medium | Don’t scale a Star you can’t restock. Reorder first, scale when stock lands. | | Nike Structure 26 (€149.99, 2,100 pairs on hand) | Cash Cows | 30 weeks | low → high | Strong return and stock to spare. Give it the room to sell through. | | Nike Zoom Fly 6 (€169.99, restock lands 14 Oct) | Question Marks | Out of stock | medium → paused | Stop paying for clicks you can’t deliver. Resumes when the restock is in. | | Nike Club fleece crew (€59.99, 1,520 units on hand) | Dogs | 38 weeks | medium → low | High clicks, low return, 38 weeks of cover. Free the capital instead of buying more clicks. | _Example scenario with Nike products. Performance data is illustrative. Product Metrics is not affiliated with Nike, adidas or PUMA._ - [How Product Segmentation works](https://www.productmetrics.io/product-segmentation) ## One list. Each action gets an owner, a revisit date and a measured outcome. Priorities list with actions from every module: | # | Action | Product | From | Status | Outcome | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Reorder 1,200 pairs today | Nike Pegasus 42 | Inventory Insights | In progress | Revisit 23 Dec | | 2 | Deprioritise: set priority_low | Nike Club fleece crew | Inventory Insights | Done | Outcome: −€1.9K spend | | 3 | Scale: set priority_high | Nike Pegasus 42 | Product Segmentation | Measuring | Revisit 14 Oct | | 4 | Review price position | Nike Pegasus 42 | Competitor Prices | To do | Not started | | 5 | Pause until restock | Nike Zoom Fly 6 | Inventory Insights | Done | Outcome: −€640 spend | - **Reorder 1,200 pairs today.** Demand of 62 rising to 93 pairs a week, a 12-week supplier lead time and a 4-week safety buffer: with 16 weeks of cover, the window opens today. - **Deprioritise: set priority_low.** Label changed 16 Sep. Measured over the 14 days after against the 14 days before: spend fell by three quarters while sales held. - **Scale: set priority_high.** A rising Question Mark gets more room. The reorder above keeps this label safe to hold through the season. - **Review price position.** Competitor Prices compares Pegasus 42 with comparable adidas and PUMA trainers. Whether to act on price is your decision. - **Pause until restock.** Paused the day stock hit zero. The label returns to priority_medium automatically when the restock lands. _Illustrative data. Select a row to see its detail._ _Example scenario with Nike products. Performance data is illustrative. Product Metrics is not affiliated with Nike, adidas or PUMA._ ## Get setup in 3 steps. Three steps from login to stock-aware labels in your campaigns. ### Log in and connect your shop Connect Google Ads, Merchant Center, GA4 and your shop. Stock syncs from Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Lightspeed or Shopware 6. ### See cover, reorder dates and slow stock Demand is projected per product and worked back from lead time and safety buffer. Slow stock comes with its reason. ### Reorder, push or deprioritise Actions land on one priority list and reach Merchant Center as custom labels. ## Inventory Insights, answered. Anything else? Ask Berend. ### How does Product Metrics decide when to reorder? It projects demand per product and works back from your lead time and safety buffer. You’re warned when that product’s reorder window opens. ### What counts as slow-moving stock? Stock with more cover than expected demand justifies. Exposure, age, seasonality, stock value and demand explain why. ### Does stock change how my campaigns spend? Yes. Stock cover feeds Product Score and reaches Merchant Center as custom labels, so products you can’t deliver lose priority. ### Our stock isn’t in Merchant Center. Which shop platforms do you connect? Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Lightspeed and Shopware 6. Stock syncs straight from your shop. ### Do you change anything in our Google Ads account? You connect your own Google account or MCC. We read your data and write only the labels you approve. ### Do I need margin data? No. It works on ROAS straight away. Connect margins to switch to POAS. ### Is there a trial, and do I need a credit card? The free analysis needs no card. The 30-day trial does, and cancelling during the trial means no charge. ## Related pages. - [Break-even ROAS calculator](https://www.productmetrics.io/break-even-roas-calculator): Find the return each product needs before you act on its stock. - [Dead stock inventory](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/dead-stock-inventory): How to find stock that has stopped selling, and what to do with each product. - [What is Google Merchant Center?](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/what-is-google-merchant-center): Custom labels, data sources and price benchmarks, from an advertiser’s side. ## See which products to reorder, and which to push. Your first analysis covers all your products. - [Analyse your products for free](https://app.productmetrics.io/): Free analysis, no credit card - [Find your hidden profit](https://www.productmetrics.io/pricing#calculator): 30-second estimate · no login - [Book a demo](https://cal.com/berend-vrakking/demo): a video call with Berend, then a demo account with example data --- Published by Product Metrics (Berend Vrakking, founder). HTML version: https://www.productmetrics.io/inventory-insights