Setting Minimum Stock Levels and Reorder Points
How to configure minimum stock levels in AskBiz POS — triggering low-stock alerts at the right time to prevent stockouts before they cost you sales.
Key Takeaways
- The minimum stock level is the threshold below which AskBiz triggers a low-stock alert — set it at lead time × daily sales rate.
- Setting minimums too low means you'll stock out before the alert is useful; too high means constant alerts that lose their meaning.
- Minimum levels should be reviewed quarterly as your sales velocity changes.
What minimum stock level means
The minimum stock level (also called the reorder point) is the quantity at which AskBiz flags a product as low stock. When your on-hand quantity drops to or below this number, the product appears in the Stock Alerts section of the POS Overview with a count of remaining units. This is your signal to reorder. The right minimum level gives you enough time to place and receive a new order before you completely run out.
Calculating the right minimum
A practical formula: Minimum Stock = (Average Daily Sales × Supplier Lead Time in Days) + Safety Buffer. For example: if you sell 15 units per day and your supplier takes 5 days to deliver, you need 75 units (15 × 5) as your reorder point. Add a safety buffer of 20–30% to cover demand spikes or delivery delays: 75 × 1.25 = 94 units. Round to 90 and set that as your minimum. If you stock out, the minimum was too low. If you always have large quantities on hand when you reorder, the minimum was too high.
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Open any product in Operations > Retail > Products. Find the Minimum Stock field. Enter your calculated minimum. Click Save. You can also set a Maximum Stock level — the target quantity to order up to. The difference between current stock and the maximum is the suggested order quantity. Setting both gives you a complete reorder trigger: 'when stock hits X, order enough to reach Y.'
Reviewing and acting on stock alerts
Stock alerts appear on the POS Overview dashboard — the count shows how many products are at or below their minimum. Click the alert count to see the full list. Each row shows the product name, current stock, and minimum level. From this view you can go directly to the product or navigate to Purchase Orders to raise a reorder. For businesses using the Suppliers feature, AskBiz can pre-populate a purchase order with all low-stock items from a specific supplier — a major time-saver for weekly ordering.
Keeping minimums up to date
Sales velocity changes seasonally. If your summer best-seller becomes slow in winter, your minimum should drop too — otherwise you'll be reordering too frequently and tying up cash in excess stock. Review your minimums at the start of each season or whenever you run your quarterly stock take. Compare your current daily sales rate (from POS Reports > Products) to the rate you used when you last set the minimum, and adjust accordingly.