Stock strategy
With the stock strategy you determine per product when and how much Picqer advises you to purchase. You choose whether you want to purchase a product only when there are backorders, or whether you want to keep it in stock.
On this page
Stock strategies
In Picqer we distinguish two types of stock strategies:
Only for backorders
If you choose "Only for backorders", Picqer will only advise a purchase once there are backorders. As soon as the product arrives, you ship it directly to the customer. For example, if you have 3 backorders for a product, Picqer will advise purchasing 3 units.
Keep in stock
If you choose "Keep in stock", you set two values:
- Order level
- Increase stock to
Picqer advises a purchase as soon as the free stock reaches or drops below the order level. Picqer then calculates how much is needed to replenish the stock to the level set at increase stock to.
The table below shows examples of order levels and the corresponding purchase advice:
| Free stock | Order level | Increase stock to | Purchase advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | 8 | 15 | 12 |
Setting up a stock strategy
You can set the stock strategy in several ways:
Per product
In Picqer you set the stock strategy per product. You do this by searching for the product in Picqer and then clicking "edit" on the product page. Under the "stock" section you will find the strategy. By default we use the "purchase for backorders only" strategy.
Not sure which strategy to set per product? In the stock strategy overview you will find all your products. You can filter here by A, B and C products. You can also see the replenishment levels and sales per week, which you can use to choose a stock strategy.
Updating multiple products at once
You can change multiple stock level strategies at once via the Excel import function. When importing and exporting products via Excel, the stock level strategy is processed differently. As a result, the quantities may differ from what you see on the product page.
How does it work in Excel?
In product exports, the order level is always 1 unit higher than on the product page. Include this +1 when importing as well.
In Excel:- A purchase is triggered as soon as the free stock drops below the order level.
- Stock is then replenished to the increase stock to level.
The stock strategies are distinguished in Excel as follows:
- Purchase for backorders only: Order level = 0
- Keep in stock: Order level > 0
API
You can also set the stock level strategy via the API. The API works the same way as a product import. The order level shown at stock_level_order is always 1 unit higher than on the product page in Picqer. An order level of 0 in the API means: purchase for backorders only.
Supplier settings
Picqer's purchase advice also takes into account your suppliers requirements. You can edit these settings per product or via a product import.
Minimum order quantity
Sometimes a supplier requires you to purchase a minimum quantity of a product. You can enter this value at "minimum order quantity".
Order in multiples of
Usually you purchase a product per unit. Sometimes, the supplier only delivers in boxes of,for example, 10 units. Picqer's smart purchase advice takes this into account. Picqer will always advise ordering in multiples of 10 and rounds up when necessary.
