Reorder reminders for every store that stocks you

The quiet loss

Retail revenue is reorders. A store that stops ordering rarely tells you: the shelf gap gets filled with something else, and you find out months later. The commonest silent loss for an emerging brand is a stockist nobody chased.

Each store has its own window

A store's reorder window is the usual gap between its orders. We use the middle value, so one long gap or a split delivery does not throw it, and keep it between 7 and 180 days.

Until a store has two orders, it uses your default of 30 days, which you can change. You can also set any store's window by hand, and yours always wins.

When a window passes

1. 1You hear firstA card in Flow says how long it has been and how often the store usually orders, and we email you once.
2. 2Up to three check-insDrafted in your voice, about 2 days after the window, then around day 12 and day 24, closer together for shorter windows.
3. 3Each one differentThe first says it is time to top up and links your line sheet. The second offers help, such as a serving idea or a staff run-through. The third asks whether they are still stocking it.
4. 4You approveNothing goes until you approve, unless you have chosen to let reorder check-ins go on their own.

When they stop

• The moment the store orders, however the order comes in: logged by you, from your line sheet, or synced from Cin7.
• The moment the store replies. A reply does not restart the clock; only an order does.
• If you pause the store.

No flood on day one

When you first connect your order history, many stores may already be overdue. We draft at most three new check-ins a day, most recently overdue first, and list the rest on one card so you can pick. Stores with no order for over a year are listed, never chased on their own.

After two missed windows in a row (you can set anything from one to six), we ask whether to move the store to Discontinued. We never do it ourselves.

Tuning it to your stores

• Your default window: 30 days to start with. A brand selling slow-moving jars might set 45; a fresh product might set 14.
• A store's own window: set it by hand for a store you know orders every six weeks, and it stays.
• Missed windows before we ask: from one to six.
• Pause a store: a paused store gets nothing except the note that an order came in.
• Let check-ins go on their own: off by default. Turn it on once you trust the drafts.

Where the orders come from

Every new order tells you once, by email and on a card, with the store's next window. Orders come from your line sheet, from orders you log, and from Cin7 Core, which syncs every hour. Getting the reorder often comes down to keeping the store selling, which is what tastings and visits are for.

For the bigger picture of getting and keeping stockists, read how to get your product into stores.

It starts with the first reply

Every store on the reorder list started as a reply to an email sent to the right store.