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Order Planning

What's on the Page?

Order Planning is VMX's most powerful purchasing tool. It identifies products that are over- or understocked by analyzing your sales history, current inventory, open orders, and customer demand — then recommends exactly how much to buy to be stocked through a target date.

  • ETA — The date you expect the order to arrive. This can be as soon as tomorrow or months out for seasonal bookings.
  • Stock Period End — The date you want to be stocked through. Everything between ETA and this date is the window the report plans for.
  • Vendors — Filter to a specific vendor when building a purchase order, or leave blank to see all vendors.
  • Departments — Filter to specific departments, or leave blank to use all departments associated with the selected vendors.
  • Deselect — Clears all selected departments (showing all departments).
  • Go — Regenerates the report with your current inputs.

Tip

For in-season replenishment, a stock period of 2–3 weeks out is typical. For seasonal bookings (e.g., ordering hard goods in fall for spring), you might set ETA to February and Stock Period End to July.

How the Calculation Works

Order Planning examines up to 5 years of sales history using a time-weighted average that accounts for trends and seasonal patterns. Years with zero sales are treated as "no signal" rather than zero demand — so a new item or a year you were closed doesn't drag your projections down artificially.

For each item, the report calculates:

  1. Current on-hand inventory
  2. Expected sales between now and ETA — inventory you'll sell before the order even arrives
  3. Expected sales during the stocking period — what you need to cover ETA through Stock Period End
  4. Existing open orders — quantities already on purchase orders inbound
  5. Customer wish-fors — outstanding requests from customers

The suggested Qty to Order is:

(Expected Sales during stocking period) − (Inventory remaining at ETA) − (Open orders arriving before Stock Period End) + (Customer wish-fors)

If this number is negative, you already have more than you need. If positive, that's how much to order.

Reading the Report

  • Description — Item name and size
  • Department — The department the item belongs to
  • On Hand — Current quantity in inventory
  • Projected Sales — Expected units to be sold between ETA and Stock Period End
  • Wished For — Quantity requested by customers (from wish lists)
  • On Order — Quantity already on open purchase orders
  • Qty to Order — Suggested order quantity to be stocked through the Stock Period End date
  • Average Cost — Average cost based on previous orders
  • Seasonality — A percentage indicating where you are in the item's seasonal demand cycle:
    • Green / low % — Peak season is approaching; demand is expected to increase
    • Red / high % — Peak has passed; be cautious about over-ordering
  • Cost to Order — Estimated total cost of the suggested Qty to Order

Tip

A negative Cost to Order means the report is suggesting you have more than you need through the stocking period — you're overstocked relative to projected demand.

Item Status Classifications

Items in your inventory can carry a status that affects how Order Planning treats them:

  • Staple — "Never out" items that require extra attention. The report flags these to ensure you're not cutting it close on critical products.
  • Discontinued — These items will not appear in Order Planning at all. Use this for items you're winding down.
  • Upon Request — Only ordered when a customer specifically requests the item. These appear in the report only when there are active wish-fors.

Advanced Uses

Finding Overstock

To identify items where you have more than a year's supply, set the ETA to today and the Stock Period End to one year from now. Any item showing a negative Qty to Order (or a very large "on hand" relative to projected sales) is overstocked. These are candidates for discounting, reduced repurchase, or closeout.

Seasonal Bookings

Order Planning works well for long-horizon seasonal buying. Example: in September, set ETA to February (when hard goods arrive) and Stock Period End to July (when you want to be sold through). The report will factor in a full season's projected sales and tell you what to commit now.

Building Purchase Orders Directly

After reviewing the suggested quantities, you can adjust individual quantities and add items directly to an existing purchase order from within the report — no need to re-enter items manually.

Exporting

The report can be exported to CSV for custom analysis or sharing with vendors.

Tips for Accuracy

Info

Order Planning is only as accurate as your underlying data. Two things matter most:

  • Inventory accuracy — If your on-hand quantities are wrong, the projections will be off. Regular cycle counts keep this clean.
  • Sales history — New items with no history will show as overstocked (the system has no demand signal). Use your judgment for items in their first season.

The report is a complement to buyer expertise, not a replacement for it. Experienced buyers often find the system's suggestions closely match their instincts — and it's particularly valuable for newer staff who don't yet have years of seasonal pattern knowledge built up.

  • Open to Buy — Dollar-level budget guardrail; use alongside Order Planning
  • On Hand/Order/Sales — Quick weeks-on-hand snapshot by department
  • Buyer's Guide — Full purchasing workflow showing how all reports fit together