This page explains replenishment: ordering more of a style that is already selling, instead of allocating a first shipment that was never sold before. It is for a buyer or planner at an export brand such as Northline Apparel, or a domestic retailer, who has already allocated a style's first shipment across stores and now watches it sell.
At work, a buyer allocates a style's first shipment using a plan built before any real sales exist: a size ratio, a store split, a launch date. Once real stores start selling the style, that first allocation runs down, and a different decision appears: whether this style gets reordered, or stops at whatever was allocated the first time. Treating every style as a one-time allocation, with no reorder, starves a genuinely fast seller of stock it could still sell profitably. Treating every style as automatically due for reorder wastes money on styles that were never going to sell through a second shipment. This lesson gives you the method for telling the two situations apart.
You need: no previous lesson; Track 21 Course 1's allocation method is useful background but not required.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: setting the exact reorder trigger from a weekly sales rate (lesson 2.2); calculating how much to replenish (lesson 2.3).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allocation | Splitting a style's first shipment across stores or channels before any of it has been sold. |
| Replenishment | Ordering more of a style that is already selling, based on how it is performing, rather than a first, unsold shipment. |
| Sell-through rate | The share of stock actually sold within a planned period, used to judge whether a forecast was right. |
| Weekly sales rate | The average number of pieces of a style sold in one week, found by dividing total pieces sold by the number of weeks elapsed. |
| Lead time | The total time from a confirmed order to the goods reaching their destination. |
| Replenishment cycle | One repeating round of Make to Stock production, run against a forecast rather than a single confirmed order. |
| Reorder | A repeat purchase order placed against a style the retailer has already sold before, based on its own forecast rather than a new buyer commitment. |
Allocation happens once, before any of a style's stock has been sold: a first shipment is split across stores by a plan. Replenishment starts only once three conditions are met together: the style has real, confirmed sales rather than a launch estimate; the factory or supplier that made it still has capacity to make more within a usable lead time; and enough of the selling season remains for a further shipment to sell through before the season ends. A style missing any one of the three is not yet, or no longer, a replenishment candidate.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Export, Make to Order | Northline Apparel's Order A T-shirt is a Make to Order first shipment; a reorder needs Delta Garments' own free production capacity, since fabric and a sewing slot were never held open for a second run. | A Make to Order factory books capacity order by order, so replenishment competes with other buyers' new orders for the same free slot. |
| Domestic, Make to Stock | Cedar & Co. plans its own factory relationship for ongoing reorders from the start, so capacity for a second run is normally easier to confirm quickly. | A Make to Stock buyer's whole model assumes repeat orders, so the capacity condition is met by design rather than checked case by case. |
| Late in the season | A style selling well in week 14 of a 16-week season has strong confirmed sales but too little season left for a further shipment to sell through before markdown. | Meeting two of the three conditions is not enough; a style failing the season-time condition alone is still not a replenishment candidate. |
| Very early launch excitement | A style selling fast in its first few days, before a full week of real data exists across all stores. | Early excitement alone is not yet confirmed sales in the sense this rule requires; the sell-through condition needs a real, dependable rate. |
Fairway Stores took delivery of its allocated share of Order A's 15,000-piece first shipment and has been selling it for several weeks. Real sales are confirmed and dependable, not a launch estimate. Delta Garments, the factory that made Order A, confirms it has free sewing capacity for a further run within a lead time that still leaves enough of the season to sell it. Fairway Stores checks whether these three conditions genuinely hold before treating the style as a replenishment candidate.
| Question | Treating it as a one-time allocation | Checking the three replenishment conditions |
|---|---|---|
| What happens once the first shipment sells out? | Empty shelves for the rest of the season, since no further order was ever considered | A further order is placed if, and only if, all three conditions hold |
| What if the season is nearly over? | No difference either way, since reorder was never on the table | The season-time condition correctly rules out a reorder that could not sell through |
| What if Delta Garments has no free capacity? | No difference either way | The capacity condition correctly rules out a reorder the factory cannot deliver in time |
Fairway Stores checks its own share of the shipment against the season timeline to confirm real season time remains.
A common mistake is placing a reorder because a style's first few days looked strong in one or two stores, before a full week of sales across the whole store base confirms the pattern. If Fairway Stores had reordered Order A's T-shirt from three strong opening days alone, without checking Delta Garments' real free capacity or how much season time remained, it could have committed to a shipment that arrived with too little season left to sell through at full price, ending in an unplanned markdown.
Allocating a style means splitting its first shipment across stores before anyone has sold any of it. Replenishing a style means ordering more of it once it is already selling, and only once three things are true together: real sales are confirmed, the factory that made it has free capacity to make more in time, and enough of the season is left for a further shipment to sell through. A style missing any one of these is not yet, or no longer, worth replenishing. Judging a style ready to replenish from a few strong early days alone, before a full week of real sales and a real capacity check, risks committing to stock that arrives too late to sell at full price.
Fairway Stores' buyer has confirmed sales across its stores for the T-shirt style from Order A, and now checks the other two conditions before deciding.
Should Fairway Stores treat Order A's T-shirt as a replenishment candidate, given a 6-week lead time against 5 remaining season weeks? Decide before you open the answer.
No, not as an immediate replenishment order. The season-time condition fails: a 6-week lead time cannot be met by a season with only 5 weeks left, even though the other two conditions, confirmed sales and factory capacity, both hold.
First, why confirmed sales and capacity are not enough on their own. Real sales are strong and Delta Garments can make more, but a reorder that cannot arrive before the season effectively ends would sell at markdown, not at full price, defeating the purpose of replenishing.
Second, what the buyer should do instead of forcing the order through. Fairway Stores should record the confirmed sell-through rate now, as evidence for next season's opening allocation, rather than committing to stock that arrives too late this season.
Fairway Stores should not place the replenishment order this season, since the lead time exceeds the season time remaining, and should instead carry the confirmed sales rate forward into next season's planning. Lesson 2.2 sets the exact trigger point for placing a replenishment order in good time.
Framed in lost margin rather than a single penalty figure: the risk is that stock arriving too late sells at a reduced price instead of full price.
Ordering 3,000 pieces that arrive after the usable season window closes converts roughly USD 11,940 of planned full-price value into markdown value instead, the direct cost of treating a style as replenishable without first checking whether the season-time condition genuinely holds.
The workbook's "Replenishment candidate" sheet records a style's own confirmed weekly sales, the factory's own lead time, and the season weeks remaining, then flags whether all three replenishment conditions hold.
Fairway Stores' own row records Order A's T-shirt with confirmed sales, a 6-week lead time, and 5 remaining season weeks, with the sheet correctly flagging the style as not yet ready to replenish this season.
1. What are the three conditions that must all hold before a selling style becomes a replenishment candidate?
2. A style has confirmed sales and free factory capacity, but the factory's lead time is 7 weeks and only 4 weeks of the season remain. Is it a replenishment candidate?
3. Why is a strong opening weekend across one or two stores not yet enough to confirm real sales for a replenishment decision?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allocation | التوزيع | Allocation | Tahsis (dağıtım) | Splitting a style's first shipment across stores or channels before any of it has been sold. |
| Replenishment | تجديد المخزون | Réapprovisionnement | Stok yenileme (replenishment) | Ordering more of a style that is already selling, based on how it is performing, rather than a first, unsold shipment. |
| Sell-through rate | معدل البيع الفعلي | Taux d'écoulement | Satış oranı | The share of stock actually sold within a planned period, used to judge whether a forecast was right. |
| Weekly sales rate | معدل المبيعات الأسبوعي | Taux de vente hebdomadaire | Haftalık satış oranı | The average number of pieces of a style sold in one week, found by dividing total pieces sold by the number of weeks elapsed. |
| Lead time | الوقت الإجمالي للتنفيذ | Délai de production | Teslim süresi | The total time from a confirmed order to the goods reaching their destination. |
| Replenishment cycle | دورة تجديد المخزون | Cycle de réassort | Yeniden stoklama döngüsü | One repeating round of Make to Stock production, run against a forecast rather than a single confirmed order. |
| Reorder | إعادة الطلب | Réassort | Yeniden sipariş | A repeat purchase order placed against a style the retailer has already sold before, based on its own forecast rather than a new buyer commitment. |
You now know when a style moves from allocation to replenishment. The next lesson sets the exact trigger point, from the style's own weekly sales rate, that tells you when to place that next order. Back to the course map