Lost sales per day on out-of-stock products
For out-of-stock products that were selling, StockDigest estimates the sales missed each day: sales per day × price. How it works and where it shows.
When a product that was selling runs out, StockDigest estimates how much you’re missing each day, such as “losing about $42 a day”. It’s there to help you decide which stockout to fix first. It’s on Growth and Pro.
How it’s worked out
Lost sales per day = sales per day × the product’s price
Sales per day is the same figure the Dashboard shows: half the 28-day average plus half the 7-day average (see how forecasts work). The price is the variant’s price in Shopify. The result is rounded to a whole amount in your store’s currency.
A worked example
Waxed Canvas Tote · Olive sold 25 units in the last 28 days and 6 in the last 7, and is now out of stock. It sells for $48.
Sales per day. 25 ÷ 28 = 0.89 a day. 6 ÷ 7 = 0.86 a day. Half of each: 0.446 + 0.429 = 0.875 a day.
Lost sales. 0.875 × $48 = $42.00, so about $42 a day.
Linen Apron · Sage is out too: it sold 17 in 28 days and 4 in the last 7, which is 0.589 a day, and it sells for $36. 0.589 × $36 = $21.21, so about $21 a day. Together the two come to about $63 a day.
Where you see it
- Dashboard: one total for all out-of-stock products, next to the status badges: “Out-of-stock products: about $63 a day in lost sales, from how fast they were selling.” Saved digests in Digest history show that day’s total.
- Daily email: under each out-of-stock product in Needs action, for example “losing about $42 a day, 24 on the way”.
- AI highlights: the “losing sales now” line can include the amount. See AI highlights.
- Instant alerts (Pro): alert emails show it under an out-of-stock product the same way. See instant alerts.
- iPhone & iPad app (Pro, coming soon): in notifications and next to out-of-stock products.
The Dashboard total is the sum of the per-product amounts, so it matches what the email shows.
When it isn’t shown
- The product isn’t out of stock. Low products and those that run out before restock don’t get a figure.
- It wasn’t selling: no sales in the last 28 days.
- It has no price in Shopify.
- The amount rounds to less than 1 in your store’s currency.
What it does and doesn’t tell you
- It’s an estimate of sales missed, not profit. It uses the price, not your margin, and doesn’t know whether customers bought something else instead or will come back later.
- It gets smaller the longer a product stays out. Days out of stock count as days with no sales. After a week out, the 7-day half of the speed is 0, so the figure can fall to about half, and it keeps falling as the 28 days fill with days out of stock. A small figure on a product that’s been out for weeks doesn’t mean it didn’t matter.
- It’s store-wide. Stock and sales are added up across all locations, as in the main forecast.
To stop the losses, reorder: the Dashboard shows the reorder amount and what’s already on the way on the same row. To send the order, see ordering from suppliers.