--- title: Setting lead times description: Lead times in Happy Buyers account for the amount of inventory you'll sell from now until the delivery truck arrives. You'll always have the right amount of inventory on hand - not too little or too much. --- [Skip to content](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/lead-times#main-content) English Show submenu for translations [![HappyCabbageLogo2024-3](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/hs-fs/hubfs/HappyCabbageLogo2024-3.png?width=200&height=80&name=HappyCabbageLogo2024-3.png)](https://happycabbage.io/) - [The Cabbage Patch Blog](https://7613181.hs-sites.com/en/blog) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [The Cabbage Patch Blog](https://7613181.hs-sites.com/en/blog) - English Show submenu for translations - [Login to Happy Buyers](https://restock.happycabbage.ai/) [Login to Happy Buyers](https://restock.happycabbage.ai/) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Knowledge Base](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/?hsLang=en) 2. [Ordering](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en) 3. [Overview](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#overview) June 1, 2026 # Setting lead times ## Lead times in Happy Buyers account for the amount of inventory you'll sell through from now until the delivery truck arrives. Using lead times, you'll have the right amount of inventory on hand - not too little or too much. Calculating how much inventory you need to order to have a set number of days on hand when the delivery truck arrives is a balancing act. It takes knowing current stock levels, how fast products are selling, how many days of inventory you want, and how long of a lead time your vendor has – *and then* you need to cross reference all of that data to know how many units to request on your order right now.  Let Happy Buyers do the work for you. Using lead times, you'll know exactly how many units you need to order today to have your desired days on hand for those products when the delivery arrives. ![email-leadtimes](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/hs-fs/hubfs/email-leadtimes.png?width=670&height=244&name=email-leadtimes.png) ### **How to use lead times:** 1. **Set your desired days on hand** Set this based on how many days of inventory you want to have when the delivery arrives at your store. 2. **Add your lead time** Set this based on how many days there are from now until the delivery will arrive at your store. 3. **Select your lookback period** Set this based on the period of time you want to reference for calculating units per day. --- Using lead times, you'll see data in two associated columns - **units needed** and **units to order**. ![email-leadtimes2](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/hs-fs/hubfs/email-leadtimes2.png?width=429&height=243&name=email-leadtimes2.png) #### Units needed: Units needed to meet customer demand Units needed is how many units you need at this current moment to meet your set desired days on hand and lead time targets. #### Units to order: Units needed, rounded up to case size Units to order is how many units are needed, but rounded up to the minimum case size (if set). ➡️ [Learn how to set case sizes](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/adding-case-sizes?hsLang=en) --- ### Using lead times in reports Lead times are included in the calculation of every **units to order** column and export across Happy Buyers. - **Purchase requests** - **Product exports** - **Product lines** ![Screenshot 2024-10-16 at 2.35.38 PM](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-10-16%20at%202.35.38%20PM.png?width=670&height=183&name=Screenshot%202024-10-16%20at%202.35.38%20PM.png) - [Getting started](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/getting-started?hsLang=en) - [Key workflows](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/key-workflows?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Quicklinks](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/key-workflows?hsLang=en#quicklinks) - [Ordering](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Overview](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#overview) - [Building orders](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#building-orders) - [Product lines](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#product-lines) - [Individual SKUs](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#individual-skus) - [Order management](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/ordering?hsLang=en#order-management) - [Product lines](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/product-lines?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Overview](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/product-lines?hsLang=en#overview) - [Creation and editing](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/product-lines?hsLang=en#creation-and-editing) - [Order settings](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/product-lines?hsLang=en#order-settings) - [Ordering](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/product-lines?hsLang=en#ordering) - [Reports](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/reports?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Automated reports](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/reports?hsLang=en#automated-reports) - [Inventory health](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/reports?hsLang=en#inventory-health) - [KPI reports](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/reports?hsLang=en#kpi-reports) - [Org settings](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/org-settings?hsLang=en) - [FAQs](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/faqs?hsLang=en) - [POS integrations](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/pos-integrations?hsLang=en) - [Customer referral program](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/customer-referral-program?hsLang=en) - [Data security and compliance](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/data-security-and-compliance?hsLang=en) - [The Cabbage Patch Blog](https://7613181.hs-sites.com/en/blog) [![Chill listening crop-3](https://knowledge.happycabbage.me/hs-fs/hubfs/HCA_Logo_horizontal-4.png?width=146&height=24&name=HCA_Logo_horizontal-4.png "Chill listening crop-3")](http://happycabbage.io) happycabbage.io Help Center Copyright © 2025, Happy Cabbage Analytics