Description
Two ways to get inventory wrong, and both are invisible
Run out and you lose the margin on sales that never happened, the advertising that sent people to an empty page, and a share of customers who go elsewhere and stay there. None of that is recorded anywhere — a sale that did not happen leaves no trace.
Hold too much and the money is already gone, sitting in a box, costing storage and ageing quietly until it is discounted or written off.
This kit finds the line between them, per product.
What you get
1. A 10-sheet Excel workbook
- Start Here — how the sheets connect
- Settings — service level, holding cost, and a safety-factor lookup table
- Products — up to 30 SKUs with lead times and lead time variation
- Demand History — twelve months of unit sales, with average and variation calculated
- Reorder Points — safety stock, reorder point, days of cover and a clear order/don’t-order status
- Order Quantity — economic order quantity, orders per year, cash tied up
- Stockout Cost — what running out of one product costs, in money
- Holding Cost — months of stock, stock turns, and which products are overstocked
- Order Schedule — 40 purchase orders with expected vs actual arrival
- Dashboard — what to order today, where your cash is, how reliable your suppliers are
2. A 12-page companion guide (PDF)
Why safety stock is not just “a bit extra”, how the service level you pick changes the stock you carry, when to ignore the economic order quantity, how to value a stockout, what to do about overstock, and why measuring your supplier beats trusting the quoted lead time.
3. A Notion template
Five ready-to-import databases: Product Stock Status, Stock Value & Holding, Purchase Orders, Suppliers and an Action Board.
Built for
- Anyone reordering from a feeling that something “looks low”
- Anyone whose cash is always tight while the stockroom is full
- Anyone with a supplier whose lead time is longer than they admit
- Anyone who has run out of a best-seller and not known what it cost
What’s in the file
- 1 x Excel workbook (.xlsx) — formulas live and editable
- 1 x PDF guide, 12 pages
- 5 x Notion-ready CSV databases + import instructions
- Delivered as a single ZIP, available immediately after payment
Compatibility
Microsoft Excel 2016 and later, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc. Any currency, any country, any supplier.
This is a planning tool. It does not constitute tax, accounting, legal or financial advice. The safety stock and order quantity formulas assume reasonably steady demand; for highly seasonal products, run them separately per season.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a year of sales history?
It works best with twelve months, but three or four will get you started. The more history you enter, the better the workbook can judge how much your demand swings — which is what safety stock is sized against.
What is a service level and what should I pick?
The share of demand you want to meet from stock on hand. 95% is a sensible default for a main range. The guide includes a table showing what each level costs you in held stock, and why 99% is rarely worth it outside critical items.
My supplier is always late. Does that break it?
The opposite — it is exactly what the lead time variation field is for. Enter how many days late deliveries can be and the safety stock sizes itself accordingly. The order schedule sheet measures it for you from your own purchase orders.
Does it handle seasonal products?
Partly. The maths assumes reasonably steady demand, so for strongly seasonal items run the calculations separately for each season rather than across a whole year. The guide explains how.
Should I always order the economic order quantity?
No, and the guide is clear about this. Supplier minimums, case sizes, volume discounts, available cash and shelf life all override it. Treat it as a sanity check.
Will this work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload to Google Drive and open with Google Sheets. Formulas, dropdowns and colour coding all carry over.
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