Lead time, cover days and the low-stock level
Lead time, cover days and the low-stock level decide what gets flagged and how much to reorder, and each has a default you can change in Settings.
These three settings decide when a product is flagged and how much StockDigest suggests ordering. They work from day one with the defaults below, and you change them in Settings under Low-stock rules.
| Setting (label in the app) | Default | Range | Where to change it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead time (Supplier lead time) | 14 days | 1 to 365 days | Low-stock rules, or per product in Product overrides |
| Cover days (Reorder enough for) | 30 days | 1 to 365 days | Low-stock rules, whole store only |
| Low-stock level (Low stock at) | 10 units | 0 to 100,000 units | Low-stock rules, or per product in Product overrides |
Lead time
Lead time is how long your supplier usually takes to deliver, from placing the order to having stock you can sell. It decides how early a product is flagged:
- Runs out before restock when days left is at or below the lead time.
- Low when days left is at most the lead time plus 7 days.
It also feeds the reorder amount, since an order has to cover the days until it arrives. Shopify has no supplier lead-time field, so StockDigest keeps its own: one for the store, and one per product if you need it (Lead time in Product overrides). There’s no lead-time setting per supplier.
Cover days
Cover days is how long a reorder should last once it arrives. The app puts it this way: “Suggested reorders cover the lead time plus this many days of sales.”
It changes the reorder amount only, not when a product is flagged, and it applies to the whole store. In the worked example, 30 cover days gives a reorder of 45. With 60, the same product would get 84. Longer cover means fewer, larger orders and more stock on the shelf.
Low-stock level
A product counts as low when its stock is at or below Low stock at, however fast it sells. This is what flags slow sellers and products with no recent sales, which have no days-left figure.
Set it to 0 to flag products by days left only. Give a product a higher level if you always want more of it on hand.
Set a product’s own lead time or low-stock level
- Go to Settings and scroll to Product overrides.
- Click Add products and choose products in Shopify’s product picker. You can narrow a product down to some of its variants.
- Each variant gets its own row. Fill in Low stock at or Lead time. A blank field shows “Store setting” and uses it.
- Click Save on that row.
The same row has a Supplier field, explained in suppliers. To go back to the store settings, clear the fields and save, or click Remove. The list holds up to 500 variants.
Change the store settings
- Go to Settings.
- Under Low-stock rules, change the number.
- Click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
The Dashboard uses the new values the next time you open it, and the email from the next digest. The same section has Count as not selling after, covered in the not-selling report, and Send the daily digest at, covered in the daily email.
To test values on one product first, use the reorder calculator. For what gets flagged and where, see the low-stock report.