Low Stock Alerts for Top Products
Get alerted when best-selling products drop below 20 units, so you never miss a restock
Shopify integration that monitors inventory levels for top-selling SKUs and alerts you when stock falls below your reorder threshold. Prevent out-of-stocks that kill revenue.
Daily at 8:00 AM, Nora queries Shopify for inventory levels of the top 20 best-selling SKUs. It pulls the last seven days of sales data to calculate current sales velocity. Nora compares current stock against the reorder threshold for each product, estimates the days remaining until a stockout, and compiles a summary of low-stock items. It sends this report to the requested chat channel.
The operations manager reads the daily report. They review the estimated run-out dates and recommended reorder quantities, deciding when to place supplier orders and whether to adjust the reorder thresholds by messaging Nora.
Runs daily at 8:00 am using Shopify, run by your Operations Manager.
How it works
- Run daily schedule — Every day at 8:00 AM, Nora initiates the inventory check process on a schedule. It connects to the Shopify account using the stored API credentials to begin pulling current data for the morning assessment.
- Identify top products — Nora retrieves a recent sales report from Shopify to identify the top 20 SKUs by revenue over a defined period. This step focuses the monitoring effort strictly on the items that drive the highest volume for the business.
- Check current inventory — For the identified top SKUs, Nora queries the current inventory levels across all active Shopify locations. It reads the exact unit count currently marked as available for sale through the Shopify admin API to establish the baseline.
- Calculate sales velocity — Nora pulls the completed order data for these specific SKUs from the past seven days. It divides the total units sold by seven to establish the current daily sales velocity for each individual product.
- Estimate run-out date — Nora divides the current inventory count by the daily sales velocity. It compares the resulting days-until-stockout figure against known supplier lead times and checks if the available stock has fallen below the requested warning threshold.
- Handle adequate stock — If all top SKUs remain above their reorder thresholds, Nora ends the run. It sends a brief message confirming that inventory levels are sufficient across the board and no purchasing action is required today.
- Send alert report — For products falling below the threshold, Nora compiles an alert. The message includes the SKU name, current stock, recent velocity, estimated days remaining, and a recommended reorder quantity, delivered directly to the designated chat channel.
What this replaces
Operations managers log into Shopify, navigate to the inventory section, and export the current stock levels to a CSV. They run a separate sales report for the last week to determine how fast items are moving. They paste both reports into a spreadsheet, manually calculate the run rate, and highlight rows where stock is getting low.
- Export Shopify inventory reports
- Export 7-day sales reports by SKU
- Calculate daily sales velocity in a spreadsheet
- Compare current stock against supplier lead times
- Draft an internal summary of items requiring reorder
Rough estimate rather than a measured figure: about 30 minutes a day, on the basis of 20 top products and the time required to manipulate CSV exports and run daily calculations.
What it needs to run
Accounts and plans
- A Shopify store with active products and inventory tracking enabled
- A messaging channel (WhatsApp or web chat) for receiving alerts
Access it asks for
- read_products: Required to view SKUs and variant details
- read_inventory: Required to track current stock levels across locations
- read_orders or read_reports: Required to pull sales data and calculate velocity
What Nora reads
- Product details and variant IDs for top-selling items
- Current inventory quantities available at all locations
- Historical order data for the last seven days
What Nora writes
- Text messages sent to the operator's chat channel
When it goes wrong
- Shopify REST or GraphQL API rate limit exceeded during query Nora pauses the job when it hits the REST API burst limit or GraphQL cost limits. It waits for the leaky bucket to reset, then resumes querying inventory levels.
- A top product had zero sales in the last seven days If a top product had no sales over the past week, Nora cannot calculate a run-out date based on velocity. It flags the item as having zero recent movement and reports the static inventory count instead.
- Inventory tracking is disabled for a specific top SKU Some products are set to continue selling when out of stock or have inventory tracking turned off. Nora skips these SKUs and notes in the report that tracking is disabled for that item.
- Supplier lead time changes without Nora being informed If a supplier extends their lead time, Nora does not know automatically. The operator must tell Nora in chat that the lead time for a specific vendor has changed, and Nora will adjust future reorder calculations.
Who this is for
Worth it if
- Operations managers at e-commerce brands doing $50k+ monthly revenue with fast-moving inventory
- Stores where the top 20 products account for the vast majority of daily sales volume
- Businesses with variable supplier lead times that require early warnings to prevent stockouts
Not worth it if
- Stores with very few SKUs where a quick glance at the Shopify dashboard is sufficient
- Made-to-order businesses that do not hold physical inventory or track stock levels
- Merchants using a dedicated third-party inventory management system as their source of truth rather than Shopify
A worked example
A kitchen supply retailer tracks stock for their 25 best-selling items. They told Nora their primary supplier needs a 14-day lead time, and they want alerts when any top SKU has less than 21 days of stock remaining.
Low Stock Alert for Top Products (08:00 AM) 2 items require attention: SKU: PRO-CHEF-KNIFE-8IN Current Stock: 42 units 7-Day Velocity: 4 units/day Est. Run Out: 10 days Warning: Stock will deplete before 14-day lead time. Recommend Reorder: 120 units (30-day supply) SKU: BAMBOO-BOARD-LRG Current Stock: 18 units 7-Day Velocity: 1 unit/day Est. Run Out: 18 days Warning: Below 21-day threshold. Recommend Reorder: 30 units (30-day supply) Reply to adjust thresholds or confirm orders.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change the reorder threshold for a specific product?
You send Nora a message in your chat channel. For example, you can say "Change the reorder threshold for the Bamboo Board to 15 units" or "Alert me when the Chef Knife drops below a 30-day supply." Nora updates its criteria for the next morning's run without any manual configuration.
Does this account for inventory split across multiple Shopify locations?
Yes. Nora queries the inventory levels across all active locations in your Shopify account. By default, it aggregates the total available stock. If you need it to monitor a specific warehouse, you can tell Nora to only read inventory from that location.
What happens if sales spike unexpectedly on one day?
Nora calculates velocity based on a trailing seven-day average. A single-day spike will increase the average daily velocity, which shortens the estimated run-out date. If this triggers your threshold, you will receive an alert the next morning.
Can Nora place the purchase order with my supplier automatically?
This specific automation only reads Shopify data and sends an alert. If you want Nora to draft purchase orders and email them to suppliers, you can ask Nora to build that addition. It will require connecting your email account or supplier portal so Nora can send the external messages.
Connects to
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