Blog · Coverage and territory · Industrial distributors
How an industrial distributor measures the order lines it could not fill from the order and fulfilment exports: cancelled, substituted and short-shipped lines per branch and per account, the value at the line's price, the items that recur, and the accounts whose order frequency fell after a run of lost lines, so that the stock decision is made on what was lost rather than what was sold.
A distributor's sales report shows what was sold. The fulfilment export shows what was ordered and not sold, line by line, with the reason. The difference is the demand the stock position turned away, and it is concentrated: a few items, a few branches, and a set of accounts that quietly started ordering elsewhere. This guide sets out lost lines by branch and account, the recurring items, and the frequency effect.
Per branch, per account, per period:
Lost lines = cancelled for stock + short-shipped + substituted Lost value = Σ ordered quantity not supplied × line price Lost rate = lost lines ÷ order lines
Per item:
Recurrence = periods in the trailing six in which the item had lost lines
Per account:
Frequency effect = orders per week in the 8 weeks after a lost-line run ÷ orders per week in the 8 weeks before
Account identifiers only.
Σ order lines = shipped in full + short + cancelled + substituted
A line in no state fails it and is listed.
One branch, one quarter.
| Item | Lost lines | Lost value | Recurrence | Accounts affected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-2207 | 41 | $38,000 | 5 of 6 | 19 |
| I-4471 | 28 | $61,000 | 6 of 6 | 7 |
| I-9034 | 22 | $9,000 | 1 of 6 | 14 |
Item I-4471 has been short every period for six months, at sixty-one thousand dollars a quarter across seven accounts. That is a stocking decision with a number on it. Item I-9034 was one bad period and is not.
| Account | Lost lines in run | Orders/wk before | Orders/wk after | Effect | Annual value at risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4471 | 6 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 0.57 | $140,000 |
| 2207 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | none |
| 1187 | 5 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 0.60 | $95,000 |
Account 4471 halved its order frequency after six lost lines in a fortnight, and nobody called, because its revenue is still on the sales report, just smaller. The list is the branch manager's call sheet with a reason on each line.
Lost lines never joined to orders. The fulfilment team knows the count and nobody knows the accounts.
Substitutions ignored. Revenue kept, customer irritated, unseen.
Valued at cost. The customer's price is what was turned away.
Recurrence not tracked. A one-period problem and a six-period problem look the same on a monthly list.
Mapped once, the order and fulfilment exports produce lost lines by branch, item and account, the recurrence, and the frequency effect every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The industrial distributors page describes the setup, and the dormant accounts guide covers the list that accounts with a frequency drop eventually reach.
From the fulfilment export's line status: cancelled with a stock reason code, substituted with a different item, or shipped short of the ordered quantity. Where the system has no reason code, a cancelled line on an item with zero stock on the order date is the proxy, stated as such.
Partly. The value moved to another item, so revenue was kept, but the customer did not get what they asked for. Substitutions are reported as their own class, and a customer with a rising substitution rate is on the same watch list as one with cancellations.
Order frequency per account in the eight weeks after a run of lost lines against the eight weeks before. An account that ordered weekly and now orders fortnightly, after three cancelled lines, has moved some of its business. The report lists those accounts with the value of the frequency drop.