Track lost sales and update demand accordingly, so you don't miss future sales.
A lost sale occurs when there is not enough product available to fulfill a customer's order, and the customer chooses not to accept a backorder of the product. Record this as a lost sale to update demand forecasting and adjust quantities to avoid being short for future sales.
To record a lost sale, you will cancel the back ordered product in the Sales Order or the Shipment Confirmation screen. This will update demand so a purchasing agent can report on it and decide how to follow up, perhaps by ordering more inventory to account for the demand.
When the order is completed, the demand on the Product Master: Analysis, Demand page is updated.
Record the lost sale in a Sales Order
In this example 2 of 3 ordered is available.
The customer decided to only take the 2 and not wait for the third. Follow the steps below to cancel the back order in the sales order.
- Leave the original quantity ordered in the Quant Ordered column.
- Leave the quantity of the product available in the Quant to Ship column.
Note: If the customer opts to take no product, type 0 in the Quant to Ship column.
- Type 0 in the Quant B/O column.
- Right-click the product, and choose Internal Comments to add an explanation.
Note: The purchasing agent will have access to these comments to better understand the reason for the lost sale.
- Click Save.
Record the lost sale during Shipment Confirmation
When ship confirming the order,
- Type the number of product being shipped in the Quant to Ship
- Type 0 in the Quant B/O column.
Note: If the customer opts to take no product, type 0 in the Quant to Ship column.
- Click Save.