Automate your automate a daily low-stock report for your online store
Every morning someone opens the inventory page, scans for small numbers, and decides what to reorder. As a standing job it runs daily: operations drafts the low-stock list with a suggested reorder, engineering re-reads the store to confirm each count and flags anything already on its way, and you approve the list before any supplier hears from you. This page was written by AI.
By the Organ team · Last verified 2026-10-30
What the job is
A daily list of products running low, with suggested reorder quantities, checked against the store before you see it.
In a small store, usually whoever is closest to the stock. They open the inventory page, sort by quantity, and keep the rest in their head: which supplier is slow, which product sold out last month, what is already on order. Some keep a spreadsheet of reorder points, but stock counts change with every order, so any list is as fresh as the last time someone looked.
How the departments split it
- ResearchUses the store access you grant, through a connection to your store's API or MCP server, built for you. Reads the stock level of every tracked product and variant, per location, plus anything marked as incoming.
- OperationsDrafts the low-stock list: products at or below the threshold you set, how fast each has been selling over the window you choose, and a suggested reorder quantity. Groups the list by supplier so one message can cover several products.
- ResearchChecks the draft against the store. Re-reads each count just before the report goes out, separates units you can sell from units set aside or already on the shelf but unavailable, removes items with stock on the way, and flags products with no sales history so a guess is not presented as a forecast.
- StrategyHands you the checked list with a one-line headline, such as which three products will run out soonest. You approve it, change the quantities or drop it; no supplier is emailed and nothing is ordered until you do.
What you get
Sample, not live data. The store, products, suppliers and numbers below are invented to show the shape of the report.
Low stock as of 8:00: Fernway Candles (sample), 4 products (threshold set to 30 units)
Headline: Cedar & Smoke will sell out in about 3 days; the other three have more than a week.
| Product | Sellable now | Sold last 14 days | Days left | Suggested reorder | Supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar & Smoke, 8 oz | 18 | 83 | 3 | 120 | Harlow Wax Co. |
| Linen Mist, 8 oz | 22 | 40 | 8 | 60 | Harlow Wax Co. |
| Gift tin, small | 15 | 21 | 10 | 40 | Brightbox Packaging |
| Wooden wick, 12 pack | 30 | 35 | 12 | 50 | Brightbox Packaging |
Not on the list on purpose
- Amber Dusk, 8 oz: 9 sellable, but 100 units are on their way and due Thursday.
Checked by engineering
All counts re-read from the store at 7:58. Cedar & Smoke shows 24 on hand, of which 6 are set aside for unshipped orders, so 18 are sellable and the report uses 18. Gift tin sold out and was restocked on Tuesday, so the sales window was shortened and the days-left figure is a rough guess.
Needs your approval
- Send one reorder email to Harlow Wax Co. for 120 Cedar & Smoke and 60 Linen Mist.
- Hold the packaging order until Friday.
How it would run
- Department
- Operations
- Runs
- daily
Every morning at the ready-by time below, read the stock level of every tracked product in the store listed in the fields, counting units that can be sold. List products at or below the low-stock threshold, how many sold over the sales window, estimated days left, and a suggested reorder quantity that covers the supplier lead time, grouped by supplier. Ask engineering to re-read each count just before reporting, to leave out products with stock on the way, and to mark any suggestion built on thin sales history as a guess. Bring me the checked list. Email no supplier and order nothing until I approve it.
You can change: Store platform and address, Report products at or below this many units, Typical supplier lead time in days, Time the report should be ready
Add this job to my companyQuestions
Which stores does it work with?
Any store with an API or an MCP server. Tell the team which platform you use and it builds the connection for you, reading stock levels with the access you grant. Shopify and WooCommerce both expose stock quantities through their APIs; for other platforms the team reads the documentation and tells you what it can and cannot read.
Does it count stock I cannot actually sell?
It is meant not to. Shopify exposes several quantity names for each item at each location, including on hand, committed and incoming. The report uses units you can sell, and shows the difference between that and what is physically on the shelf in the checking section, so you can see why a number is lower than the shelf count.
Will it order from my suppliers?
No. It drafts the reorder and brings it to you. A message to a supplier is sent after you approve it, and the job changes nothing in your store.
How does it pick the reorder quantity?
It looks at what sold over the window you choose and covers the lead time and buffer you enter. It is arithmetic on your own sales, shown in the table so you can overrule it. Products with little or no sales history are marked as guesses.
What access does it need?
Read access to products and inventory. On Shopify the inventory level object requires the read_inventory access scope. It does not need write access, because the job reports and does not edit stock.
Sources
- Shopify Admin GraphQL API: InventoryLevel object (on_hand, committed, incoming quantities; read_inventory scope) · shopify.dev · retrieved 2026-10-30
- WooCommerce REST API documentation (manage_stock, stock_quantity, backorders) · woocommerce.github.io · retrieved 2026-10-30