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Almost no stockout is a real surprise. The numbers were always there: current stock, sales velocity, your supplier's lead time. Nobody added them up, because working out the reorder point for each item in Excel is tedious and gets lost in the day-to-day. That is exactly the calculation the days of cover and reorder report from byrdAI takes off your plate, for every single SKU, every day if you want.
The problem: you reorder when it already hurts
We see three patterns again and again with growing merchants:
Reordering by gut feel.
A glance at the shelf stands in for the math. That works fine until a product turns faster than expected, and then you lose two weeks of revenue because the supplier simply needs 30 days.
Lead time is missing from the math.
Many merchants look at the stock level ("200 units left, we're fine"), not at the last possible order date. What matters is not how long your stock lasts, but how long it lasts minus lead time.
Every SKU gets treated the same.
Your bestseller needs different attention than a slow mover. Without prioritization, the one critical reorder gets lost in a list of hundreds or even thousands of products.
The metrics the reorder report calculates for you
byrdAI pulls your live data from byrd (stock, sales, velocity) and calculates, per SKU:
- Days of cover: How many days your available stock will last at the current sales rate.
- Reorder point: Days of cover minus your supplier's lead time. If that reorder point comes out negative, you are already overdue.
- Recommended order quantity: What to order to cover lead time plus your target days of cover, so you keep enough safety stock without buying yourself into overstock.
An example: 29 units in stock and an average of 6 sales a day works out to just under 5 days of cover. Run the reorder point formula with a 14-day lead time and this SKU is not "due soon," it has been overdue for more than a week. Those are exactly the cases the report flags in red, before they turn into a revenue problem.
How to build a reorder report with byrdAI
Once you're connected, all it takes in Claude or ChatGPT is:
"Which SKUs have less than 14 days of cover?"
For the full picture, the ready-made dashboard prompt is on the byrdAI page and further down, ready to copy. With it, Claude builds you a live dashboard with a stockout timeline that shows exactly when to reorder inventory: every SKU as a bar on the calendar, the lead time as a shaded zone, the last order date as a marker. Add sliders for lead time and target cover, plus a finished reorder plan bucketed into "order today," "this week," and "next week." And you can adjust all of it however you like.
The decisions you draw from it
Overdue SKUs first.
Anything already inside the lead time can no longer be saved by a standard order. Here your only options are express shipping, an alternative supplier, or an honest "sold out" note in the shop.
The reorder plan replaces the gut feel.
Instead of checking every product daily, you work through a short, prioritized list: which SKUs, by when, in what quantity.
Avoid overstock.
The report also shows the other side: SKUs with more than a year of cover. There you pause reordering and put the capital to better use.
From report to routine: reordering on autopilot
The daily order list.
"Every workday at 8 a.m., send me the list of all SKUs I need to reorder, with the recommended quantity." Your purchasing team starts the day with a finished priority list, by email or in Slack.
The early-warning trigger.
"When a SKU drops below 14 days of cover, draft the order email to my supplier." All you do is approve it. If you like, you can let recurring orders go out fully automatically.
Order dates in your calendar.
Claude can drop each order date straight into your Google Calendar as an event, with the SKU, quantity, and a byrd link in the description. The last possible order date then sits where you're guaranteed to see it.
Seasonal adjustment.
Before peak, you simply ask: "Assume sales velocity is 50% higher. What do I need to order, and by when?" No new tool, no new spreadsheet, the same data.
Never be caught out by an empty shelf again
As a byrd customer, you connect byrdAI to Claude or ChatGPT in about 5 minutes and copy the reorder prompt from our byrdAI page or below this section. Not a byrd customer yet? byrdAI is only available with byrd fulfillment, as the first European 3PL with an MCP server. Talk to us.
Example prompt for the reorder report (adjust it however you like).
Frequently asked questions about the reorder report with byrdAI
What exactly does days of cover mean?
The number of days your available stock will last at the current sales rate. byrdAI works out that rate from your real shipping data over the last 14 to 90 days, and you choose the window.
Does the report account for my lead times?
Yes. You enter your supplier's lead time (say 7, 14, 30, or 45 days) and the report uses it to calculate the last sensible order date per SKU.
What about bundles?
At byrd, bundles are picked from components. The report therefore focuses on the sellable individual SKUs whose stock can actually run down.
What does byrdAI cost?
During the beta, byrdAI is included in your account free of charge for byrd customers.