---
title: "You have stock. Why does one marketplace run out? | Nasam"
description: "A healthy total can conceal a shortage where customers are ordering. Before buying more, look at where the units sit and when they can become available to buy."
url: https://nasam.co/en/blog/one-sku-across-channels
lang: en
---

# You have stock. Why does one marketplace run out?

A healthy total can conceal a shortage where customers are ordering. Before buying more, look at where the units sit and when they can become available to buy.

The point

Compare days of cover at each location with the time until replacement stock becomes sellable. Then decide whether the constraint is total supply, its allocation, or stock that has arrived but cannot yet be sold.

## One product, 120 units, three different positions

A product is close to selling out on noon, yet the brand's stock report shows 120 units. Suppose 45 are in its own warehouse for store orders, 15 at noon under FBN, and 60 at Amazon under FBA. On days when the product was in stock, the store sold two units a day, noon five, and Amazon one. Every number in this example is hypothetical. It illustrates a decision, not marketplace demand or a forecast for another brand.

The total, 120, looks comfortable. At the assumed pace, however, noon's 15 units cover only three days. The warehouse stock covers about 22.5 days of store sales, and the FBA stock about 60. One marketplace can be about to sell out while most of the brand's units remain elsewhere. The useful question is no longer just 'How many units do we own?' It is 'Where can the next unit be sold, and when?'

Location is not merely an accounting label. For FBA, Amazon's Saudi guide describes sending stock to its fulfillment center, where it becomes available for sale after receipt. For FBN, noon requires an inbound shipment and transfer to its warehouse. The brand's own warehouse can serve orders fulfilled by the brand. There may be eligible ways to transfer stock or fulfill another channel from a location, but each has a process, elapsed time, and cost. Adding the balances together does none of that work. [[1]](https://sell.amazon.sa/en/fulfillment-by-amazon) [[2]](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/what-is-fbn-or-noon-express)

## Days of cover only matter beside time to availability

Now assume that a replenishment sent to noon takes seven days from the decision to ship until those units are sellable. Seven days is an illustrative lead time, not a noon service commitment. If orders continue at five units per day, the 15 units on hand run out in three days. The replacement becomes available four days later. Buying another hundred units today would not, by itself, close that gap. The units have to reach the route that needs them and pass the steps that make them available to customers.

That is the comparison to make for every pool: days of cover at a plausible sales pace versus days until the next batch can actually be sold there. Stock dispatched from your warehouse but not yet received is different from stock on offer. Units received but failing a quality check or held off an offer are different again. Noon explicitly separates saleable and non-saleable FBN inventory in its seller dashboard and shows both saleable quantity and total stock for a SKU at a warehouse. [[3]](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/what-is-fbn-inventory-dashboard)

Do not turn the five-units-per-day observation into a precise forecast. A short promotion or temporary price could explain it. A period of unavailability can also depress the recorded average: a day with zero orders while the product was out of stock is not evidence of zero interest. Compare days when the offer was available, note campaign and price changes, and look at the range of outcomes before committing a large batch to a single location.

**How long does stock last at each location?**

- Seller warehouse 45 units 2 units/day 22.5 days

- noon FBN 15 units 5 units/day 3 days

- Amazon FBA 60 units 1 unit/day 60 days

- Total: 120 units. At this pace, the noon pool covers only 3 days.

Illustrative example for one product: days of cover = sellable units ÷ average daily sales from the same location. These are not actual sales data.

## Is the answer more stock or a different allocation?

If every route is approaching its replacement lead time and incoming stock will not cover plausible demand until the next purchase arrives, the brand may genuinely need to buy more or place the order earlier. Moving units between marketplaces cannot create additional supply. But when one route sells out repeatedly while another holds months of stock, first ask why the last batch was allocated that way. Repeating the same purchase and the same allocation can reproduce the shortage alongside the surplus.

In our example, the FBA pool covers roughly 60 days at one sale a day, while noon has three days at five. That is a reason to reconsider the next batch's split, not proof that every new unit belongs at noon. Amazon sales may rise during a coming campaign. The margin on noon may be thinner. The brand's store still needs enough stock to honor its own delivery promise. An allocation decision has to consider these claims on the same units, rather than reward the fastest channel automatically.

The third diagnosis is neither purchasing nor allocation. Units may be at the intended warehouse but not sellable or not represented on the live offer. Noon's FBN inventory dashboard distinguishes total stock from saleable stock and identifies non-saleable items, including those that did not pass checks. Sending more units to a location with an unresolved availability issue can add to a pile the customer still cannot buy. Establish why the units are unavailable before treating the problem as demand outstripping supply. [[3]](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/what-is-fbn-inventory-dashboard)

Moving existing units deserves its own time-and-cost comparison. If a transfer takes seven days to become sellable and the route has only three days of cover, the transfer cannot eliminate the whole gap. It may be unavailable or uneconomic for a particular program or product. In some cases the more consequential decision is made on the next inbound shipment, early enough to place stock where demand is likely to occur, rather than trying to rescue units placed elsewhere weeks ago.

## The cost of holding stock

A unit sitting for two months in a slow location is not commercially equivalent to a unit that could sell this week elsewhere. The brand has already paid to make or buy it and may be paying to store it. Amazon Saudi Arabia charges monthly FBA storage fees based on the space occupied, and noon publishes monthly FBN storage fees for Saudi sellers. Long-held inventory can incur further fees. This does not mean draining one pool to fill another. It means including the cost of waiting when comparing placements. [[4]](https://sell.amazon.sa/en/pricing) [[5]](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn-fees-in-ksa)

Sales velocity alone is not a verdict. A quick sale can leave less contribution after marketplace commission, fulfillment, advertising, and returns than a slower sale elsewhere. Stock positioned in another route may also support a better delivery promise or demand during a known event. Compare what remains from each sale with how long units are likely to sit there. A higher order count is not automatically a better use of scarce inventory.

## What changes for the next shipment?

Start with the product showing the clearest contradiction: repeated sellouts in one place and slow-moving stock in another. Before approving another batch, look at sellable units by location, sales on days the product was actually available, and the date when each inbound shipment can be sold. Put the route's cost and contribution beside those dates. The answer may be a larger purchase, a different split of the next shipment, or an availability problem affecting stock already in place.

If noon deserves a larger share in the example, ask how long that share needs to last after it arrives, not just how many units would cover today's gap. A seven-day path to sellable stock means a late decision may not prevent the approaching stockout. Demand will move, so review the result after the shipment: did days out of stock fall without building a surplus somewhere else? That is the value of reading inventory by place and time, rather than as one number at the end of a month.

## Sources

- [Amazon Saudi Arabia: FBA storage and stock availability](https://sell.amazon.sa/en/fulfillment-by-amazon)

- [noon: storing and shipping products under FBN](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/what-is-fbn-or-noon-express)

- [noon: FBN inventory dashboard and saleable stock](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/what-is-fbn-inventory-dashboard)

- [Amazon Saudi Arabia: selling and FBA storage fees](https://sell.amazon.sa/en/pricing)

- [noon: FBN storage fees in Saudi Arabia](https://helpcenter.noon.partners/en/category/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn/fulfilled-by-noon-fbn-fees-in-ksa)

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