Running out of stock is one of the most preventable problems in retail and distribution — yet it happens constantly. A customer calls to order your best-selling product and you have to tell them it’s out of stock. You scramble to reorder, pay rush shipping fees, and still lose the sale. The customer goes somewhere else. It’s painful, costly, and entirely avoidable with the right system.

iMagic Inventory’s reorder point system watches your stock levels for you and flags items before they hit zero, giving you time to reorder calmly and at normal prices.

What Is a Reorder Point?

A reorder point is simply the quantity at which you should place a new order. When your stock of an item drops to or below that number, it’s time to buy more. The trick is calculating the right number for each product — too high and you tie up cash in excess stock; too low and you still run out.

A simple formula: Reorder Point = (Average Daily Sales × Lead Time in Days) + Safety Stock

For example, if you sell 5 units per day and your supplier takes 7 days to deliver, your minimum reorder point is 35 units. Add a safety buffer of 10 units and you’d set 45 as your reorder point.

Setting Reorder Points on Your Inventory Items

Every item in iMagic Inventory has a reorder point field. Once set, iMagic Inventory monitors your stock levels automatically. You don’t need to check each item manually — iMagic Inventory builds the reorder list for you.

Go to View > Inventory to open your inventory list. Double-click any item to edit it. You’ll see fields for Reorder Level and Reorder Quantity. Set the reorder level to your calculated reorder point, and the reorder quantity to how many units you want to order each time. Save and repeat for your other products.

Using the Reorder List

Here’s where the real time-saving happens. Rather than scrolling through your entire inventory list looking for low-stock items, iMagic Inventory has a dedicated reorder screen.

Go to View > Reorders and iMagic Inventory shows you every item that has dropped to or below its reorder point, along with the suggested order quantity. This list is generated automatically — no manual checking required.

Turning the Reorder List Into Purchase Orders

Once you can see what needs ordering, you can contact your vendors directly. iMagic Inventory lets you open View > Vendors to pull up your vendor list, find the right supplier, and create a purchase order. Keeping vendor details up to date — including lead times and preferred order quantities — makes this process even faster.

How to Set Up Reorder Points in iMagic Inventory

  1. In iMagic Inventory, go to View > Inventory and open the item you want to configure.
  2. In the item details, locate the Reorder Level field and enter your calculated reorder point.
  3. Enter your preferred order quantity in the Reorder Quantity field.
  4. Assign the item to its primary vendor if you haven’t already.
  5. Save the item and repeat for your other products.
  6. Go to View > Reorders at any time to see your current reorder list — iMagic Inventory keeps it up to date automatically.
  7. Use the vendor information in View > Vendors to place orders with the right supplier.

Prioritise Your Most Critical Items First

You don’t have to set reorder points for every product at once. Start with your top 20% of sellers — the items that generate the most revenue and cause the most pain when they run out. Get those configured first and you’ll immediately see the benefit. Then work through the rest of your catalogue over time.

With reorder points in place, iMagic Inventory handles the monitoring so you can spend less time firefighting and more time growing your business.

Download iMagic Inventory free for 30 days and set up your first reorder points today.