More LineNow procurement articles for supplier communication, purchase orders, inventory math, accounting handoff, and software selection.
Showing 18 of 241 articles
A backorder is an order for an item the supplier does not currently have in stock. How backorders cascade through the supply chain, the impact on lead time, partial shipment handling, and the decision framework for waiting versus substituting.
Read article ->A bill of materials is the complete list of raw materials, components, and sub-assemblies required to produce one unit of a finished product. BOM explosion, yield adjustment, dynamic costing, and why BOMs matter for procurement.
Read article ->SKU rationalization is the systematic process of evaluating which products to keep, consolidate, or discontinue. The long-tail problem, net SKU contribution formula, the emotional challenge of dropping products, and menu engineering for retail.
Read article ->GMROI is gross margin divided by average inventory at cost — a useful metric for return per dollar tied up in stock. Formula, dual-driver expansion (GM% × turns), vertical benchmarks, ABC tier analysis, landed-cost effects, and procurement levers.
Read article ->Inventory turnover is COGS divided by average inventory — the number of times a business cycles through its stock in a year. Formula, vertical benchmarks by category, the relationship to days of inventory on hand, and the procurement decisions that materially change your turns.
Read article ->Landed cost is purchase price plus every charge that accrues getting goods into usable stock: freight, customs duties, cargo insurance, and handling. Formula: LC = P + F + C + I + H. How landed cost changes EOQ holding cost, ABC tier classification, recipe and BOM costing, and why a closed-loop procurement platform captures it at receiving.
Read article ->Cycle counting is the practice of physically counting a rotating subset of SKUs to maintain Inventory Record Accuracy (IRA) without halting operations. Formula: IRA = (1 − |Σ variance| / Σ counted units) × 100. Count frequency by ABC tier, acceptable IRA thresholds by class, and why structured receiving is a continuous cycle count for high-velocity ordered items.
Read article ->FIFO and LIFO are cost-accounting methods that determine how purchase costs flow into COGS. FEFO is a picking rotation policy that determines which physical lot leaves the shelf first based on expiration date. A business can run FIFO accounting and FEFO picking simultaneously — and most perishables operators should.
Read article ->ABC inventory analysis ranks every SKU by annual usage value (AUV = units sold × unit cost) and divides the catalog into three tiers. A-items (20% of SKUs, 80% of value) get the tightest replenishment controls; C-items the lightest. How the formula works, where standard ABC breaks without demand-pattern data, and the full ABC × SBC policy matrix.
Read article ->Forthcast forecasts Shopify demand. LineNow handles the forecast and the closed-loop buying workflow that follows: PO, supplier reply, receiving, inventory, and accounting.
Read article ->BlueCart helps restaurants order from enrolled suppliers. LineNow runs a living PO workflow across supported supplier channels so replies, receiving, and bill context reconcile upstream.
Read article ->QuickBooks Desktop 2023 service discontinuation took effect after May 31, 2026. What procurement data to export, why QBO doesn't close the buying loop, and where living POs fit.
Read article ->Three-way matching is the accounts payable process of verifying a vendor invoice against both the purchase order and the goods receipt note before payment. Why classic three-way matching fails at SMB scale, tolerance formulas, and how a closed-loop procurement loop reduces reconciliation work.
Read article ->A goods received note (GRN) is the buyer's formal record of what physically arrived against a purchase order. Required fields, GRN vs packing slip, receiving variance, and how living POs make GRN creation accurate before the invoice arrives.
Read article ->Traditional three-way matching waits until accounting has the invoice. A living PO reconciles supplier confirmation, receiving, and supplier AR upstream so accounting can review policy, approve exceptions, and pay from a cleaner record.
Read article ->Open-to-buy (OTB) is the dollar buying budget available for a period. Formula: OTB = Planned Sales + Planned Markdowns + Planned EOM Stock − BOM Stock − On Order. With a worked retail example, stock-to-sales ratio guidance, how OTB relates to reorder points and PAR levels, and why OTB planning requires closed-loop execution to translate the budget into purchase orders.
Read article ->Days of inventory on hand is on-hand quantity ÷ daily consumption rate — the number of days before an item runs out. The critical threshold: DOH < lead time means the stockout window is open. With accounting vs. operational DOH, the safety buffer formula, decay adjustment for perishables, vertical benchmarks, and how a closed-loop procurement platform acts on DOH.
Read article ->Faire launched its Lightspeed integration in 2026. This guide explains what Faire + POS integrations handle and where supplier replies, receiving, replenishment, and accounting still need procurement workflow.
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