The answer to "where is the Lightspeed reorder report?" depends on which Lightspeed Retail you run. On R-Series (the older Lightspeed Retail line), the classic reorder report still exists and is now called the Reorder list: go to Reports → Reorder list and you'll get every item below its reorder point with a Needed quantity you can turn into a purchase order. On X-Series (former Vend), there's no report named "reorder report" — you add Reorder Point and Reorder Amount columns to an inventory report, switch the measure to Low inventory, or use the Inventory replenishment report if you're on a Plus plan.
This guide covers both, step by step: setting reorder points, running the reports, turning them into purchase orders, and what the reorder math does and doesn't account for — from Lightspeed's own documentation.
R-Series: the Reorder list report
Set reorder points first. Go to Inventory → Item Search, open an item, and use the Reorder points page (cross-location view) or the item's Details page (per location). Two numbers per location: the reorder point (the level that triggers the flag) and the desired inventory level (what you want to get back up to).
The math. When quantity on hand drops to or below the reorder point, R-Series computes:
Need = desired level − (on hand + incoming on open POs + incoming transfers + stock in boxes)
So if your reorder point is 10, desired level is 20, and you have 5 on hand with nothing incoming, the report shows a Need of 15. Crediting Lightspeed here: counting inbound POs and transfers in the gap math is something plenty of "low stock report" features get wrong.
Run the report. Reports → Reorder list (under Basics). You get every flagged item with Needed, Reorder point, Desired level, and QOH columns, plus a Comparison Location dropdown to check whether another store has the stock before you buy more.
Turn it into a PO. Create the PO at Inventory → New Order (choose shop and vendor, save), then enable "Add items using manual reordering", optionally filter by category or brand, and click Generate PO. Every item below its reorder point that's assigned to that vendor gets added with its Needed quantity. You can also pull in special orders or import a spreadsheet.
The velocity upgrade. If you have the Lightspeed Analytics add-on, the Dynamic reorder report recommends quantities from a trailing sales window (default 30–90 days) with a configurable forecast period and an average lead-time setting. Lightspeed describes it as a commonly requested custom-built report — which is also an honest admission that the base reorder list is pure gap math with no velocity or lead time in it.
X-Series: reorder points, low inventory, and the replenishment report
Set reorder points first. X-Series has two fields per product, set per outlet and per variant: the Reorder point (flags the product as low stock) and the Restock level (the default quantity added when the product lands on an order). Set them on the product page or bulk-load them by CSV import.
Three report surfaces:
- Inventory report with reorder columns. Reporting → Inventory Reports → click "+" next to Item Value → tick Reorder Point and Reorder Amount → Apply. (They're product-specific data points, so no totals row.)
- Low inventory measure. Switch the inventory report's measure to Low inventory to see products at or below their reorder point.
- Inventory replenishment report (Plus plans — Lightspeed gates its Insights features by plan). This is the strongest one: closing inventory, items sold per day, days' cover (days until you run out at current velocity), average cost, plus the reorder columns. On Plus you can also set the date range to a forecast period and get forecasted demand and a suggested order quantity (forecast − closing − inbound), using moving-average or seasonal methods.
Turn it into a PO. X-Series closes the loop better than most POS systems: when you create an order at Inventory → Stock control → Order stock, you can use Autofill from reorder point — every product at or below its reorder point for that supplier gets added at its restock level. From there, X-Series emails the PO to the supplier directly (Save and send), supports partial receiving with deliveries linked under the original order (since the May 2025 overhaul), distributes shipping and import duty across received cost (real landed-cost allocation), and can send received orders to QuickBooks Online or Xero as bills — a manual send, so build it into your routine.
What the reorder math doesn't do
All from Lightspeed's own docs, not editorializing:
- The reorder points themselves are static, manual numbers. In both series, nobody computes the threshold for you — you decide 10 vs 25 per item, per location, and maintain it as demand shifts. For 200 SKUs that's a quarterly chore; for 5,000 across three stores, the numbers quietly go stale, and a stale reorder point is indistinguishable from no reorder point. (What the number should be doing: reorder point, safety stock.)
- The X-Series forecast explicitly does not account for supplier lead times. Lightspeed's doc says so directly, disclaims forecast accuracy, and notes it struggles with new, slow-moving, or recently stocked-out products. A suggested quantity that ignores how long the supplier takes to deliver answers how much but not how much given when it will arrive.
- Suggestions don't become sent orders by themselves. Autofill gets flagged items onto a draft; deciding against pack sizes, minimums, and budget — and chasing what the supplier says back — is still on you.
- Seasonality and velocity live behind add-ons and plans: the Analytics add-on on R-Series, Plus plans on X-Series.
Where the report ends and the loop begins
A reorder report answers one question: what's low right now? The buying loop is longer than that: decide quantities against velocity, lead time, and pack sizes → send each supplier their order → absorb the replies (confirmations, shorts, substitutions, price changes, moved ETAs) → receive against what the supplier confirmed, not what you asked for → hand accounting a bill that matches. Lightspeed covers the first step well and the send step credibly; the reply-to-reconciliation stretch happens in your inbox.
That stretch is the layer LineNow runs beside Lightspeed: reorder points computed from actual sales velocity, lead times, and decay instead of hand-set thresholds; orders sent per supplier over email, WhatsApp, or EDI; replies parsed into a living purchase order; receiving reconciled against the confirmed state; clean accounting handoff. The full architecture argument — including where NuORDER fits for wholesale-brand ordering — is in the Lightspeed procurement layer guide.
If the Reorder list or the replenishment report is working for you, keep it — genuinely. The moment to add a layer is when the numbers behind the report (the thresholds) stop being maintainable, or when what suppliers do after the PO leaves is where your week goes.
Sources checked
- Lightspeed R-Series: Understanding the Reorder List report
- Lightspeed R-Series: Setting reorder points and desired inventory levels
- Lightspeed R-Series: Creating purchase orders
- Lightspeed R-Series: Dynamic reorder report
- Lightspeed X-Series: Stock reorder point and restock level
- Lightspeed X-Series: Reorder Point and Reorder Amount in inventory reports
- Lightspeed X-Series: Using the inventory replenishment report
- Lightspeed X-Series: Demand forecasting with the replenishment report
- Lightspeed X-Series: Creating and sending a purchase order
- Lightspeed X-Series: What's new with partially received orders (May 2025)