How to set up a supplier in Restocio

Every supplier has a Freight tab with two timing fields, one row per route and its own spare days, and since 22 October 2026 everything on it plans that supplier's products. Most of it can stay blank, and knowing which blanks are safe is the whole job.

Marcus VolstedCo-founder, Restocio Published 27 October 202615 min read

Where do I set up a supplier?

Open Suppliers in the sidebar, click the supplier to expand it, and choose the Freight tab: type Production days and Handling days, which add up to when the supplier ships, then, per route, switch Ships by off for a route this supplier does not use and type Travel days and Price per kg. A blank box uses your store's number, so you only type what differs for this supplier, and what you type plans that supplier's products only.

The page is titled Supplier Center and has two views, “Suppliers” and “Bulk edit”. In the list each supplier is one row with its routes, its product count and an “Order by” date. Click a row and it opens into two tabs, “Products” and “Freight”. Products is open by default, so the Freight tab is one click further than you would guess. The supplier names come from your products, so a new supplier appears as soon as a product carries its name, and you can also add one by hand with the Add supplier button at the top.

Nothing on the Freight tab is required. Every field is optional, and a supplier whose card is empty is planned entirely on your store-wide numbers, exactly as it was before the card existed. The card says what a filled one does in its first lines: “The routes, travel days and prices below plan this supplier's products only: which routes they travel on, when to order and how much. Freight prices change, so they are an estimate: check them now and then.” If your role is read-only you can open the card and read it, but you cannot edit it, and you do not get the Bulk edit view.

What are Production days and Handling days?

Production days are how long the supplier needs to make the goods after you order. Handling days are how long they need to confirm, pick and pack once the goods are ready. Restocio adds the two together and treats the total as the day the supplier ships. The card tells you the sum as you type, in a line beside the two boxes: “Ships 22 days after you order.”

The two boxes do not behave alike when they are empty, and that is the part worth reading twice.

What you typed	What Restocio reads
Production days left blank, or 0	0. The goods are in stock and nothing has to be made.
Handling days left blank	Your store's number, shown in grey in the box. This is the default, not zero.
Handling days typed as 0	0. A real zero, meaning the supplier ships the same day the goods are ready.
Any other number	That number of days, whole days only.

A made-to-order supplier shows how it adds up. Say production is 20, handling is blank, and your store's handling number is 2. The card reads “Ships 22 days after you order”, because the blank handling box falls back to the store's 2. Type 0 in handling instead and it reads 20. A supplier that ships from stock with no production and a typed 0 in handling reads 0, and a supplier you never touched reads the store's number alone.

Both numbers move this supplier's order dates and its order sizes. The card says so in the hint beside each box. A supplier that really takes 22 days to ship has to be ordered from 20 days earlier than one running on the store's 2.

How do the supplier's numbers relate to the store-wide ones?

The store-wide numbers are the default and the supplier's own numbers overrule them for that supplier only. Nothing on the card changes what any other supplier does.

The number	Store-wide home	On the supplier card
Days until the goods leave the supplier	Settings, Inventory, “Days before your supplier sends the goods”. It covers packing and handling only, not production.	“Handling days” replaces it. “Production days” are added on top and exist only on the card.
Which routes are used at all	Settings, Inventory, “Which shipping do you use?”	“Ships by”, a switch per route. Off means not used for this supplier
Days on the road, per route	Settings, Inventory, on each route's card (see the freight mode toggles guide)	“Travel days”, one box per route
Freight price per kilo, per route	Settings, Freight & Margin	“Price per kg”, one box per route, in the currency chosen above the table
Days of stock left when the goods land	Settings, Inventory, “Days of stock left when the boat arrives” and “Extra days the train brings”	“Spare days on arrival”: the same boxes, for this supplier

Under the store-wide handling field on Settings, Inventory, a quiet line counts who is still on it: “3 of your 8 suppliers use this number.” Once every supplier has its own handling days on its card, the line changes to say the store number is not used right now. An “Open Suppliers” link sits beside it. The field's own description says it covers packing and handling, not production, and that suppliers who make goods to order add their production days on the Suppliers page.

If you do not know a supplier's numbers yet, leave them blank. A blank card is not a missing prerequisite. It is a supplier planned on your store's averages, and once deliveries are received the card shows how late each route has really been.

What do Travel days do on a supplier?

Travel days on a supplier are the door-to-door days for that supplier on that route, and since 22 October 2026 they plan that supplier's products: the expected dates on its orders, the day to order by, and how much. The hint on the column says the same: “It sets the dates of this supplier's orders and, for its products, when to order and how much. A guess here moves real orders, so use how long it really takes.”

Each route row has the same pair of controls as Settings, Inventory: a drag bar and a number box, which are two ways to type one number. Leave both alone and the box shows your store's number in grey. The number is door to door, from the supplier's hand to your shelf, for this supplier on this route only.

Here is what each field on the Freight tab moves today, so you know how much to trust a number before typing it.

Field on the Freight tab	What it moves today
Production days	This supplier's order dates and order sizes
Handling days	This supplier's order dates and order sizes
Ships by, per route	Whether this supplier's products can be planned on that route at all. Off reads “not used for this supplier”; a card you never touched ships by every route your store has on
Travel days, per route	This supplier's order dates, and for its products the order deadline, the order size and which route carries it
Usually late (days), per route	That route's expected dates. On the route that leads your plan it also moves how early you order and how much, since the plan treats the route as that many days slower. On a faster route it moves how much that route carries when it is added on top
Price per kg, per route	This supplier's freight cost in the plan and when you receive goods, and which of its routes is used: a route slower and dearer than another of its routes is set aside
Spare days on arrival	Days of stock left when this supplier's main route lands, and the extra days a faster route brings when it fills a gap for it. They move when to order this supplier's products and how much. Blank = the store's
Late deliveries (measured)	Nothing. It only shows how often this supplier was late.

A longer trip than the store's is now planned for. If a supplier's boat really takes 35 days and your store says 30, type 35: its products are ordered five days earlier, and their orders grow to cover the longer trip (about twice the extra days of sales, since the next delivery moves out as well), and a line under the table says so, naming the supplier, the route and the extra days, ending “Its products are ordered that much earlier, and their orders cover the extra days.” Nothing changes for any other supplier.

“Usually late (days)” is the last timing field on a route row. When Restocio has measured three or more of this supplier's deliveries on that route, a “Recommended” button appears beside the box with the measured number. It fills the box and does nothing else until you press Save, so the number never changes without you pressing it.

Which routes does a supplier card show?

A supplier's Freight tab shows one row for each route you have switched on in Settings, Inventory, and no others. Switch Plane off for the store and the Plane row disappears from every supplier's card. The numbers you had typed for it are kept, not deleted, and they are there again when you switch it back on.

That holds for every combination of Boat, Train, Plane and Truck. A store on Boat only gets one row on each card and a plan built on the boat. A store with all four gets four rows. Restocio plans each of the combinations rather than assuming a boat exists, and the card follows the same rule. The switches themselves, and what turning one off does to your plan, are covered in the freight mode toggles guide.

Each row starts with a “Ships by” switch. Switch it off for a route this supplier does not use and the row greys out with “not used for this supplier”: its products are then planned only on the routes that are on here and switched on for your store. A supplier you have not touched ships by all your store's routes, and no other supplier is affected. Switch off every route the store has on and the card warns that the supplier ships by none of them, “so its products are planned on your store's routes for now”; the Suppliers list and the Replenishment card repeat it. The plan never refuses, it falls back to the store's routes until you switch one on for the supplier here or in Settings, Inventory.

What is Price per kg on a supplier for?

Price per kg is what freight from this supplier costs per kilo on this route, typed in the currency you choose above the table under “Prices per kg typed in”, and since 22 October 2026 the plan costs that supplier's products on it and uses it to choose their route. Blank uses your store's price from Settings, Freight & Margin. The box has no grey number in it on purpose, so an empty one is not a missing price. The same price is pre-filled when you receive goods.

The currency starts at USD, and a card saved before the choice existed is read as USD, so an old number keeps its meaning. The plan converts into your store's money with the rate your store holds for that currency, your own if you set one, else the bank rate saved for it. Change the currency with prices already typed and the card asks whether to convert the numbers or keep them. Type a price in a currency the store holds no rate for and a line under the table says the supplier's prices “are not used and your store's prices are, for now”; saving the card fetches today's rate. Under your store's own prices on Settings, Freight & Margin, a line counts the suppliers with their own price per kilo, and a “Same price for all suppliers” button clears them after a confirmation; their routes and travel days stay as they are. Whether freight is added to your cost at all depends on one other setting, covered in supplier price or landed price. Compare two suppliers on the same footing with the landed-cost comparison before you type either price.

How do I edit many suppliers at once?

Use the Bulk edit view at the top of the Suppliers page: every supplier is one row, and each row holds the same fields as its card. There is one set of values. Change a number in Bulk edit or on the card and it is the same number in both places.

The columns are Production days, Handling days, one days column per route you have switched on (“Boat days”, “Train days” and so on), Stock left on arrival, Minimum order, Currency, Minimum units, MOQ per product, Deposit %, Country and Note. A blank box uses the store's number, shown in grey. Edit as many rows as you like, check the “suppliers edited” count beside Save, and press Save once. Clearing every field on a row removes that supplier's terms altogether.

Bulk edit does not have the Ships by switches, the Usually late boxes, the Price per kg boxes or the extra spare days per route. Those live on the supplier's own Freight tab only.

The order minimums are the other half of setting up a supplier, and they live in the same table. “Minimum order” is the smallest order value the supplier accepts, in the Currency you choose beside it. “Minimum units” is the same idea in units. “MOQ per product” is the smallest quantity this supplier sells of any single product, and every product from the supplier inherits it unless the product has its own. When a draft order falls under a minimum, the order dialog says so and names the gap. It never changes the quantity for you and never stops you placing the order.

What happens when I press Save?

Save is greyed out until you change a box, and a toast confirms “Supplier freight saved”. Under the button Restocio then compares the plan from before and after your change for this supplier's products, in one line such as “Your change moved 4 orders” followed by what moved, with a Show link for the before and after on each product. If nothing moved, it says “No order changed”. Nothing in that line changes an order itself.

The plan is rebuilt on the server after a supplier save. On a store with a large catalog the rebuild can take a little while, so if you open Replenishment straight away and a number still looks like the old one, give it a moment and reload before you retype anything.

A box that is out of range is pulled back into range when you leave it, with a line under the box saying so. Two numbers are allowed but get a warning because they cost the store: more than 180 production days, and more than 90 days of “Usually late”. Both warnings say what the number does to your order timing.

What the supplier card will not do for you

Restocio does not know your supplier's real lead times. Production, handling and travel days are things you type, from the supplier's quote or from the deliveries you have already received, and a number from a blog post, ours included, is not a quote. To find a supplier's real production time, measure it from your own past orders rather than from what the supplier promises.

The limit to know is the fallback. A supplier that ships by none of the routes your store has switched on is planned on the store's routes with a warning, not refused, so a card with every Ships by switch off quietly behaves like an untouched one until a route is on for it. A price typed in a currency the store holds no rate for is not used either, until the card is saved and a rate exists. Neither warning stops you saving, so read the lines under the table before you leave the card. And the card never measures travel days for you: it measures lateness, after three deliveries, and even then only offers the number.

Common questions

Where do I enter a supplier's production time in Restocio?

On the Suppliers page. Click the supplier to expand it, open its Freight tab, and type the number in "Production days" under Timing. Production days are how long the supplier needs to make the goods after you order, and they are added to the handling days. Blank or 0 means the goods are in stock. The line beside the boxes shows the total, as "Ships N days after you order".

What is the difference between production days and handling days?

Production days are how long the supplier needs to make the goods after you order. Handling days are how long they need to confirm, pick and pack once the goods are ready. Restocio adds the two to get the day the supplier ships. A blank production box means 0, but a blank handling box uses your store's number from Settings, Inventory, so type 0 in handling when a supplier really ships the same day.

What does a blank box on a supplier's Freight tab mean?

It means "use my store's number". The store's number is shown in grey in the box, so you can see what will be used. A blank Production days box is the exception, which reads as 0 because the store has no production number. A blank Price per kg uses your store's price from Settings, Freight & Margin. A supplier with every box blank is planned entirely on your store-wide settings.

Do a supplier's travel days change how much Restocio tells me to order?

Yes, since 22 October 2026. A supplier's Travel days set the expected dates on that supplier's orders and, for its products, the order deadline and the order size on that route. Type a longer trip than the store's and the card says its products are ordered that much earlier and their orders cover the extra days. A blank box uses your store's number for that route. Production days and handling days move dates and sizes too.

Can I turn off a route for one supplier?

Yes. Each route row on the supplier's Freight tab starts with a Ships by switch. Switch it off and that supplier's products are planned only on the routes that are on for it and switched on for your store. A supplier you have not changed ships by all your store's routes, and other suppliers are not affected. Routes themselves are switched on and off for the whole store in Settings, Inventory, and a route the store has off shows on no supplier.

Does a supplier's own price per kg change what Restocio tells me to order?

Since 22 October 2026, yes, for that supplier's products. The plan costs their freight on it and uses it to choose their route, so a route that is slower and dearer than another of the supplier's routes is set aside. It is also pre-filled when you receive goods. Blank uses your store's price. Settings, Freight & Margin lists the suppliers with their own price and has a Same price for all suppliers button that clears them; their routes and travel days stay.

How do I change production days for many suppliers at once?

Open Suppliers and choose the Bulk edit view. Every supplier is one row, with Production days, Handling days, a days column per route you have switched on and Stock left on arrival, plus the order minimums. Edit as many rows as you like and press Save once. The values are the same as on each supplier's own card, so a change in one place is the same change in the other.

Marcus Volsted

Co-founder, Restocio

Marcus co-founded Restocio and works on it daily with a Swedish importer who plans their purchasing in it every working day. Restocio is built in Sweden by two founders, one Swedish and one Danish, and Marcus is the Danish one. Why we are building it.