How Often Should You Reorder Inventory?

Ask five Shopify merchants how often they reorder and you'll get five different answers: weekly, monthly, "whenever something looks low." None of them are wrong on their own, because cadence isn't a formula the way a reorder point is. It's a calendar decision layered on top of one.

Confusing the two causes real problems: a store that only reviews inventory monthly can calculate a perfectly correct reorder point and still stock out, simply because nobody looked between review dates.

Cadence vs. trigger: two different decisions

A reorder point is an event: a stock level that, once crossed, means it's time to order that SKU. It doesn't care what day it is. Cadence is a schedule: the recurring rhythm on which you actually sit down and place orders.

The two interact rather than compete. A tight weekly cadence with a correctly calculated reorder point catches problems fast. A loose quarterly cadence with the same reorder point leaves a gap where a SKU can cross its trigger and sit there, unordered, until the next scheduled review. The reorder point tells you what needs ordering; cadence tells you how long that need can go unnoticed.

What actually sets your cadence

• Supplier order-processing schedule. Some suppliers batch orders: they cut a shipment once a week or once a month regardless of when you send the PO. Your cadence is effectively theirs.
• Lead time relative to sales velocity. A short lead time on a fast seller supports frequent, small orders. A long lead time forces you to commit further ahead, pulling your effective cadence longer.
• MOQs and case packs. Covered in depth in how much stock to order each time. A large MOQ can quietly force a longer cadence than your sell-through would otherwise justify.
• How many suppliers you're juggling. Five suppliers with five different lead times and order windows tend to pull your cadence toward "whatever's due this week," supplier by supplier.

The cash-flow tradeoff

Take the site's running example: "Cedar & Fig, 250g" sells 5 units a day, at a wholesale cost of 6 dollars a unit.

Over a full year, both cadences cost the same total: roughly 1,825 units either way. The difference is how much of that spend sits on a shelf as unsold stock at any given moment rather than in your bank account. Weekly ordering never has more than about a week's worth tied up; monthly ordering carries roughly two weeks' worth on average. Ordering less often isn't without upside, though; fewer purchase orders means less admin time and often a better per-unit price.

MOQ and cadence

A supplier's minimum order quantity can override the cadence you'd otherwise pick. If Cedar & Fig's supplier sets a 200-unit MOQ, a weekly order of 35 units doesn't clear it. You'd need to wait until 200 units' worth of demand has accumulated, which at 5 units a day is 40 days. The MOQ, not your sales velocity, ends up setting the calendar.

The reverse applies too: a real volume price break can make ordering less often worth the extra cash tied up. Rounding a given cadence's quantity to clear an MOQ is covered in how much stock to order each time. This post is about the calendar, that one's about the number.

Choosing your cycle

• Fast movers, short and reliable lead times: weekly or biweekly. Order sizes stay small and cash stays free.
• Slower movers, or long lead times and large MOQs: monthly or quarterly, with a larger safety-stock buffer to cover the longer gap between reviews.
• Multiple suppliers on different schedules: cadence often ends up supplier-driven, and you review "everything due from this supplier" on the day their order window closes.

Whatever cadence you land on, the reorder point still decides which SKUs get an order on any given review day: cadence sets when you look, the reorder point sets what you act on. That combination is what a full replenishment process is actually managing.

Software that recalculates reorder points nightly and groups what's due by supplier removes the memory-and-spreadsheet part of cadence entirely. The review becomes "check what the buying planner says is due" instead of a date circled on a calendar. That's what StockCue's buying planner does.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should a small Shopify store place reorders?

It depends on your suppliers' lead time and MOQ, and how fast each SKU sells. Fast movers with short, reliable lead times suit weekly or biweekly ordering; slower movers or long-lead-time suppliers usually settle into monthly or quarterly cycles.

What's the difference between reorder cadence and a reorder point?

A reorder point is the stock level that triggers an order for one SKU, and it can be crossed on any day. Cadence is the calendar rhythm you review and place orders on; the two are independent decisions that work together.

Does a bigger MOQ mean you should order less often?

Often, yes. If a supplier's minimum order quantity is larger than a short cadence would naturally need, you either order more than necessary to hit it every time, or space orders out further until the minimum has genuinely accumulated.

How does reorder cadence affect cash flow?

Ordering less often in bigger batches ties up more cash in stock sitting on the shelf at any given moment, even though total spend over a year is the same either way. More frequent, smaller orders keep less cash parked in inventory.