📈 How To: Increase the Size of a Purchase Advice
Optiply's algorithm is designed to calculate the optimal order quantities to keep your stock lean and protect your cash flow. Because of this, we generally do not recommend manually inflating your purchase advice.
However, we understand the real world of supply chain management! There are valid exceptions where you must increase an order size—such as needing to fill up a shipping container to save on freight costs, or hitting a strict minimum order value for a supplier.
Here are the two ways you can easily increase (or decrease) the size of your purchase advice.
🧠 Method 1: The "Smart Increase" (Recommended)
If you need to significantly increase the overall value or volume of a full order, doing it manually, product-by-product, is tedious and can result in unbalanced stock. Instead, you can use the Smart Increase tool.
Open your draft purchase order.
Look for the Adjust order size parameter in the top right corner of your order screen.
Input your desired increase factor.
Optiply will automatically recalculate and distribute the increased amounts across all the products in your order in a smart way (prioritising items that sell the fastest or are closest to needing a reorder anyway, rather than just blindly adding stock to slow movers).
⚠️ CRUCIAL WARNING: When you apply a new smart increase factor, the algorithm completely recalculates the order lines. This means all your previous manual changes will be lost. Always make sure to apply the 'Adjust order size' parameter first, before making any individual manual tweaks!
✍️ Method 2: Manual Changes
If you only need to tweak a few specific items rather than the entire container, you can adjust the advice manually.
Direct Input: You can click directly into the quantity field for any product on the purchase order and type in your desired number.
Snooze & Add Buttons: You can use the quick-action Snooze (to push the advice back) and Add buttons next to individual products to easily round up or adjust the specific items in your order based on your own gut feeling or warehouse needs.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why doesn't Optiply recommend increasing the advice?
The system buys exactly what you need to achieve your desired Service Levels until your next delivery. Ordering more than advised ties up your working capital in unnecessary safety stock and takes up valuable warehouse shelf space, which can hurt your profitability over time.
How do I know when my container is full?
If you have configured the physical dimensions and weights of your products (and your shipping containers) in your settings, you can track the total volume and weight of your order in the top right corner of the Purchase Page. You can use the "Smart Increase" feature until those totals match your container's physical limits!