Rail lands 29 days sooner. It costs EUR 1.72 more per kilo.
A multi-brand EU seller where the interesting decision was not how much to order but how to ship it. We priced ocean against rail on the same lane and moved the reorder trigger to match.
Ocean or rail is a cash decision.
Lead times are modelled per product, per country and per freight mode, so the choice is shown as the cash decision it is. Ocean is ordered at 20 weeks of supply, rail at 15.
Every shipment carried to a closed state.
Baselines were set and forecasts structured before a single reorder point was written.
Inbound FBA shipments tracked across fifteen months, 43,024 units shipped against 37,658 received, with every shipment carried through to closed, cancelled or receiving. Nothing left open and forgotten.
A full-year sales baseline of EUR 365,010 across 48 SKUs, plus a 51-ASIN monthly velocity matrix, in place before a single reorder point was set.
Each forecast on sixteen buckets: eight weekly, seven at 35 days, and one quarterly.
A weekly scorecard by calendar week, plus the next purchase order date for each brand: SKUs out of stock 1.43 percent, SKUs under 30 days of cover 1.43 percent, aged-inventory surcharge EUR 190.06 a month.
If faster freight keeps rescuing late decisions, move the reorder trigger first.
Bring one lane where speed keeps becoming an emergency purchase. We will price the route decision together.