With Inventory Forecasting, you can calculate how much inventory to reorder and create purchase orders.
Where to find Forecasting
Go to Inventory > select Forecasting from the menu:
Breakdown of the Algorithm
We calculate your recommended order quantity via a transparent equation.
((Daily Sales * Stock Coverage) - In Stock Qty - Incoming Qty) = Order Qty
Definitions:
Daily Sales:
The units you sell each day. This is calculated by dividing your Total Sales by the number of days chosen in 'for enough stock to cover'.
However, this excludes days when you were out of stock. Inventory Forecasting aims to estimate the sales you could have achieved if fully stocked, so we divide by the percentage of days you had inventory.
Note: Any stock availability below 20% is adjusted to 20% for a more accurate order prediction. Additionally, any predicted increase is included in the final result.
Click the units sold per day number to review how the number was calculated.
Stock coverage: The number of days you select in the 'for enough stock to cover' field.
In Stock Qty: The amount of already purchased stock you have sitting in a warehouse.
Incoming Qty: The amount of already purchase stock you have in route to a warehouse.
Configuring Recommended Amount
To provide you with the most suitable Order Quantity, we ask you to consider three key factors:
1. Sales Data Range: Choose the time frame of previous sales data you'd like to use. Using that time frame, Inventory Forecasting will take into account all sales made during that period to calculate your recommended order quantity. Adjust this selection based on how long you've been selling on a sales channel, as those sales can impact your stock levels.
2. Stock-Out Duration: Determine how long you are willing to be out of stock before placing a reorder.
3. Sales Trend Assessment: Consider any trends in your store's sales. If you anticipate a significant increase in sales for a seasonal item, adjust the uplift slider to the right. Or, if you expect a decline in sales, perhaps due to a seasonal slowdown like vacation mode, move the slider to the left: 
Pro Tip: If you predict that your sales will double, set your uplift to 100%.
Filter Results
By vendor: To view items from a specific vendor's catalog, select the vendor from the dropdown menu. (Learn more about Vendors and the Vendors Catalog)
By item type. If you want to filter out component SKUs or focus exclusively on them, you can toggle between these two options. This will allow you to customize your view and see only the results that meet your specific needs.
Customize View
You can display as many or as few columns as you'd like, allowing you to focus solely on the data that matters most to you. To adjust your view, click the Customize View button > select the information you want to see:
Preview. Provides an image of your product.
SKU. The Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) of the product that is a link to its product page.
Title. Title of the product.
SKU / Title. To optimize space in the forecast display, you can combine the SKU and Title information into a single column.
Connected Listings. The number of listings including this SKU. If it is not a component SKU then this column will show 0. Clicking on that number will take you to a page with all of the listings that include that SKU in their kit/bundle.
Vendor. The vendor that offers the product at the lowest price, as identified in your Vendor Catalog.
Order Qty. Calculated using the following equation: ((Daily Sales * Stock Coverage) - In Stock Qty - Incoming Qty). It cannot be removed as a column from the forecast. You can override our suggestion by clicking the qty and then entering in a new amount.
Total Sales. The overall number of quantity sold for that product in the time period chosen for the 'Based on previous sales of' setting.
Units Sold per Day. Calculated as your Total Sales divided by the days you have selected in 'for enough stock to cover'. However, that does not take into account the days where you had no stock.
In Stock. The quantity you currently have in stock for the warehouse(s) selected.
Incoming Stock. The quantity you have in transit. We determine this amount from the purchase orders that you have issued, but have not yet received.
Days until 0 Qty. This is (In Stock Qty / Units Sold per Day).
Cost per Item. The cost per item can be entered on the Product page or, if the item is linked to a vendor, from the Vendor Catalog. You can also enter the cost per item directly in the Forecasting page. Any changes made will automatically update across all relevant sections in your Listing Mirror account, including both the Product Catalog and Vendor Catalog.
Total Cost. This is the (Cost per Item * Order Qty).
Interact with the Forecasting data
Sorting. Click the header of any column to sort it in ascending and descending order.
Updating the Order Qty. While we will fill in the Order Qty column with our calculated amount, you can override this by entering a new number in the field. That number will then be used on any purchase orders created.
Action Items. Perform actions on specific items by selecting the checkbox. You can reset quantities back to our recommended amounts, set quantities to a specific amount in bulk, or assign vendors to an item in bulk.
Create a Purchase Order
When you're ready to order more stock, select the items from the forecast that you want to order and click Create Purchase Order. Learn about Purchase Orders here.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Why can't I view the forecast?
If Inventory Forecasting isn’t available in your account, you may need to upgrade your subscription plan. Learn more about managing your subscription here.
I am new to Listing Mirror. Will forecasting work for me?
Listing Mirror will start calculating order quantities as soon as products are added to your account, but it will be using limited sales knowledge since Listing Mirror has only just begun importing your orders. As you stay and grow with our platform, the calculations will be able to use more data.
Why are some of my SKUs not showing in the forecast.
This could be for one of two reasons.
1. We cap the forecast at 10k SKUs. You can opt to view either your highest selling products or most recently added products. This keeps us from the page timing out for very large catalogs.
2. The SKU is a kit or bundle. We will not show kits or bundles, but instead will show their components. When restocking a kit or bundle, you will need to order their individual component SKUs that make up the recipe. You may need to buy more of one component than another based on what other recipes the SKUs are included.