Forecasting and reordering products
Knowing what to buy, how much to order, and when to place the PO — that's the difference between a well-stocked shop and one that's constantly running out of best sellers or sitting on dead inventory. Meadow gives you three tools to get this right.
Quick overview
Inventory Velocity tracks how fast each product sells and tells you when to reorder — based on daily sales velocity, current stock, and open purchase orders
Premium Insights shows sales, product, and customer trends over time — revenue, margins, order types, and category performance
Products Sold Report gives you historical sales data for any date range — units sold, total proceeds, and average price per product option
Configure velocity settings (sales window, PO lead time, buffer) in Settings > Inventory to match your operation
Velocity calculates re-order dates automatically — products turn red when it's time to reorder and yellow when they're approaching the reorder window
Which tool to use
Meadow has three tools for understanding product performance and making purchasing decisions. Here's when to use each:
Tool | Best for | Where to find it |
Inventory Velocity | Deciding what to reorder, when, and how much — based on daily sales velocity and current stock | |
Premium Insights | Analyzing sales trends, product performance, margins, and customer behavior over time | |
Products Sold Report | Historical sales data for a specific date range — units sold, revenue, and average price per product |
Tip: Start with Inventory Velocity for day-to-day reorder decisions. Use Premium Insights when you need to understand broader trends — which categories are growing, which brands have the best margins, and how customer behavior is changing.
Setting up inventory velocity
Inventory Velocity calculates how fast each product sells (its velocity) and estimates when you'll need to reorder. Before you start using it, configure three settings in Settings > Inventory (admin.getmeadow.com/settings/inventory).
Sales window
The sales window determines how far back Meadow looks when calculating daily velocity. Choose 30, 60, or 90 days.
Meadow divides total units sold over the window by the number of days. If you've sold 100 units over a 30-day window, that's 100 ÷ 30 = 3.33 units per day.
If a product hasn't been in inventory for the full window, Meadow uses "days since product created" instead. A new product that sold 10 units in its first day shows velocity as 10 ÷ 1 = 10 units per day.
Tip: A shorter window (30 days) reacts faster to recent trends. A longer window (90 days) smooths out spikes and seasonal swings. Choose based on how much your sales fluctuate.
PO lead time
PO lead time is the average number of days between creating a purchase order (PO) and receiving delivery. This shifts your re-order date earlier so you don't run out while waiting for a shipment.
If your distributors typically deliver in about a week, set this to 7 days.
When a product has fewer days of inventory remaining than the PO lead time, Meadow marks it as "Low Stock" and the re-order date turns red.
Buffer
The buffer adds extra days on top of your PO lead time to account for delivery delays.
If deliveries are frequently delayed a day or two, set the buffer to 2 days.
When a product's re-order date falls within the buffer window, it turns yellow — a heads-up that you're getting close.
Reading the velocity page
The Inventory Velocity page (admin.getmeadow.com/inventory/velocity) shows every active product with its sales velocity, current stock, open orders, and estimated re-order date.
Display modes
Choose how you want to see velocity, inventory, and on-order data:
Display | Velocity column | Inventory column | On Order column |
Quantity | Average units sold per day | Units currently on hand | Unreceived units on open POs |
$ Cost | Average daily cost of goods sold | Total cost of current stock (from PO package costs) | Total cost of unreceived PO items |
$ Potential Revenue | Average daily revenue | Expected revenue from current stock (units × current list price) | Expected revenue from PO items (units × current list price) |
Columns
Column | What it shows |
Product | Product name, option, and brand |
Velocity | Daily sales rate over the sales window — units, cost, or revenue depending on display mode |
Inventory | Current stock on hand — units, cost value, or potential revenue |
On Order | Unreceived units on open purchase orders — units, cost, or potential revenue |
Days of Inventory | How many days your current stock will last at the current velocity (units in inventory ÷ daily velocity) |
Re-Order Date | Estimated date to place your next purchase order to avoid running out |
Sort options
Sort the list by any column in ascending or descending order:
Default (same as velocity descending — fastest sellers first)
Velocity
Inventory
On Order
Days of Inventory
Re-Order Date
Filters
Search by product, option, or brand name
Filter by category or subcategory
Filter by stock status:
All — shows safe and low stock products
Safe Stock — only products with a re-order date in the future
Low Stock — only products with a re-order date of today or earlier
Important: The sales window calculates on a trailing basis — it doesn't include today's sales. Check back tomorrow to see today's data reflected.
Important: Cost figures don't include excise tax — Meadow pulls from the "cost per unit" on purchase orders. If you manually enter or edit "average cost per unit" on a product's inventory tab, that value overrides PO costs. Potential Revenue uses the current list price — not the sales price.
How re-order dates work
The re-order date tells you when to place your next purchase order for a product. It accounts for how fast the product sells, what you have on hand, what's already on order, and how long deliveries take.
The formula: (Units in inventory + Units on order) ÷ Daily velocity − PO lead days − Buffer days = Days until re-order
Meadow adds that number of days to today's date to get the re-order date.
Example
A product sells 10 units per day. You have 100 units in inventory and 200 more on an open PO:
Days until you run out: (100 + 200) ÷ 10 = 30 days
With a PO lead time of 8 days and a 2-day buffer: 30 − 8 − 2 = 20 days
Re-order date: 20 days from today
If you wait longer than 20 days to place the PO, you risk running out before the shipment arrives.
Color coding
Color | Meaning |
No color | Safe — re-order date is beyond the buffer window |
Yellow | Approaching — re-order date is within the buffer window |
Red | Low stock — re-order date is today or has already passed. Reorder now |
Important: Products with 0 inventory and 0 velocity in the selected sales window don't appear on the velocity page. Archived products don't show either. Inactive products do appear.
Finding products to reorder or discount
Inventory Velocity doesn't just tell you what to buy — it helps you spot products that need attention in either direction.
Products to reorder
Filter the velocity page to Low Stock to see everything with a re-order date of today or earlier. These products need purchase orders now. Sort by Re-Order Date ascending to prioritize the most urgent items first.
Slow-moving products
Sort by velocity ascending to find your slowest sellers. Products with low velocity and high inventory are tying up cash on your shelves. Consider:
Running a promotion or discount to move them faster
Reducing your next order quantity
Not restocking when they sell through
Overstocked products
Look for products with a high Days of Inventory count. Hundreds or thousands of days means you have far more stock than you need at the current sales rate.
Tip: Check velocity across all three sales windows (30, 60, and 90 days) before making big decisions. A product might look slow in the 30-day window because of a temporary dip, but the 90-day view tells a different story. Download the velocity report to see all three windows as separate sheets.
Cash flow planning
Switch the display to $ Cost to see your daily cost of goods sold and the dollar value of inventory on hand and on order. This helps with:
Budgeting upcoming purchase orders
Understanding how much cash is tied up in inventory
Comparing the cost basis of inventory vs. its potential revenue (switch to $ Potential Revenue for the revenue side)
Analyzing product performance with Premium Insights
Premium Insights (admin.getmeadow.com/insights/sales) gives you a longer-term view of how your business is performing. While Velocity focuses on reorder timing, Insights helps you understand trends, margins, and customer behavior over time.
Select the timeframe and increment you want to view, then toggle the metric on the chart. You can add or remove lines from charts, filter, search, and click columns to sort by value.
Sales (Admin >>
The Sales dashboard (admin.getmeadow.com/insights/sales) shows revenue, order volume, and averages over time:
Total sales value, total order volume, and average sales per increment
Average cart size — comparing all orders, in-store, pickup, and delivery
Order type breakdown (in-store, pickup, delivery) — toggle between $ sales, order count, % of sales, % of orders, or average cart size
Payment type breakdown — toggle the same metrics to compare payment methods
Order source breakdown (in-store, Admin, online) — view by the same metrics to compare channels
Important: The Sales section uses order grand totals to calculate revenue and percentages. These numbers are accurate but don't replace proper accounting — use Meadow's Reports for financial reporting.
Products
The Products dashboard (admin.getmeadow.com/insights/products-overview) breaks down product performance at five levels:
Overview — your top 5 categories, brands, and products by $ sales and % of revenue, plus total cost and margin
Categories — category performance over time. Toggle between % of revenue, revenue in $, order count, unit count, margin %, % of orders, cost of products sold, and average sales price
Products — filter by category and/or brand, search for specific products. Same toggle options
Options — product option-level breakdown for products with multiple variants. Same filters and toggles
Brands (admin.getmeadow.com/insights/brands) — search by brand name. Same toggle options
Tip: Use the margin % toggle to find your most profitable products — not just your best sellers. A high-volume product with thin margins might contribute less to your bottom line than a moderate seller with strong margins.
Important: The Products section uses line item totals, not order grand totals — so it doesn't deduct order-level adjustments or discounts. Meadow calculates margin as (price − cost) ÷ price using the cost per unit from purchase orders. The margin calculation doesn't deduct excise tax.
Customers
The Customers dashboard (admin.getmeadow.com/insights/customers) shows customer trends over time:
Total customers broken down into returning, new, and anonymous (no profile created)
Revenue and average cart size by referral source
Revenue and average cart size by gender (if recorded on customer profile)
Revenue and average cart size by age
Toggle between sales in $, order count, average cart size, % of sales, and % of orders.
Important: Premium Insights calculates on a trailing basis — today's sales aren't included in the charts.
Using the Products Sold Report
The Products Sold Report (admin.getmeadow.com/reports/products-sold) gives you a straightforward sales breakdown for any date range — how many units of each product option sold, total revenue, and average price.
Generate the report by selecting a start and end date, then clicking Generate Report. The report downloads as a CSV file with one row per product option.
Column | What it shows |
Product Name, Brand, Category, Sub-Categories | Product identification and categorization |
Option, Option ID | Product variant (strain, size, etc.) and its ID |
Amount, Unit | Base unit quantity and type (e.g., 1 item, 3.5 g) |
Avg Price | Average selling price over the date range |
Current Price, Current Sales Price | Today's list price and sale price (if any) |
Amount Sold | Total units sold in the date range |
Total Proceeds | Total revenue from this product option |
When to use Products Sold vs. Inventory Velocity
The Products Sold Report and Inventory Velocity answer different questions. The Products Sold Report tells you what sold and how much revenue it generated over a custom date range. Use it for comparing periods, tracking new product launches, or finding your top sellers over a longer horizon.
Inventory Velocity tells you how fast products are selling right now and when to reorder — useful for daily purchasing decisions.
Use Products Sold for looking back. Use Velocity for planning forward.
Common questions
Does velocity account for days a product was out of stock?
No, Inventory Velocity doesn't currently adjust for out-of-stock periods. If a product was out of stock for part of the sales window, its velocity appears lower than actual demand — because there were zero sales on days with zero inventory. Meadow has this improvement on the product roadmap.
What's the difference between the Products Sold Report and Inventory Velocity?
The Products Sold Report shows historical sales data for a custom date range — units sold, total revenue, and average price per product option. Inventory Velocity shows daily sales rates calculated from recent data (30, 60, or 90 days) and projects when you'll need to reorder based on current stock and open POs. Use the Products Sold Report for sales analysis. Use Inventory Velocity for purchasing decisions.
Why doesn't a product show on the velocity page?
A product won't appear on the Inventory Velocity page if it has 0 inventory and 0 velocity in the selected sales window — meaning it hasn't sold and you don't have any in stock. Archived products don't show either. Inactive products do appear on the velocity page.
Is Premium Analytics included with Meadow, or is it a paid add-on?
Premium Analytics — which includes both Premium Insights and Inventory Velocity — is a paid add-on to Meadow. Pricing is based on your data set size. Contact Meadow Support for a quote. If you don't see it on your admin, contact support@getmeadow.com.
Does velocity use sales price or list price for revenue calculations?
Velocity uses different prices depending on the display mode. In $ Cost, figures come from the "cost per unit" on purchase orders and don't include excise tax.
In $ Potential Revenue, the Inventory and On Order columns use the current list price — not the sales price. The Velocity column in $ Potential Revenue mode uses actual revenue from the selected sales window.
Why doesn't today's data show in velocity or Insights?
Both Inventory Velocity and Premium Insights calculate on a trailing basis — today's sales aren't included. Check back tomorrow to see today's data reflected in the numbers.
Can I change the sales window for velocity calculations?
Yes, you can choose between 30, 60, or 90 days as the sales window in Settings > Inventory (admin.getmeadow.com/settings/inventory). A shorter window reacts faster to recent trends. A longer window smooths out spikes and seasonal fluctuations.
Where do I find these tools in Meadow Admin?
You'll find all three tools in different sections of Meadow Admin:
Inventory Velocity: admin.getmeadow.com/inventory/velocity
Velocity Settings: admin.getmeadow.com/settings/inventory
Premium Insights — Sales: admin.getmeadow.com/insights/sales
Premium Insights — Products: admin.getmeadow.com/insights/products-overview
Premium Insights — Customers: admin.getmeadow.com/insights/customers
Premium Insights — Brands: admin.getmeadow.com/insights/brands
Products Sold Report: admin.getmeadow.com/reports/products-sold