Free tool
Inventory Cash Planner
Connect the next inventory buy with the cash dates that matter.
The Inventory Cash Planner offers two ways to test the next buying cycle. Enter a direct schedule of known receipts and payments, or model a purchase from units, landed cost, expected sell-through, selling price and variable selling costs. The buying-cycle view connects product contribution with supplier payments, customer settlements and the stock still held.
Start with available cash, then distribute the relevant receipts and payouts across three dated periods using your own timing assumptions. Compare the tested balances with the cash floor you choose. The Sell-Through Rate Calculator can help you review stock movement before forming the sales assumption; the cash planner shows how a profitable-looking purchase can still need funding before receipts settle.
Direct schedule or buying-cycle scenario · Three dated cash checkpoints · Explicit timing assumptions
Calculation mode
Use a consistent scope and cost basis for every figure.
Use the timing of actual cash movements. A sale and its payout may fall in different periods. Your entries stay in this page until you choose to copy them.
Need help finding your figures in Shopify?
Copy an input checklist for Sidekick. Store reports may not contain every cost or scenario assumption; verify the source and mark missing figures rather than guessing.
Starting position
Period 1
Period 2
Period 3
How this tool works
How the buying cycle connects to cash
In direct mode, each closing balance equals opening cash plus settled receipts, less inventory payments and other payouts. Buying-cycle mode first calculates the full purchase commitment as units multiplied by landed cost. Expected sold units use your sell-through assumption. Revenue less the landed cost of sold units and entered variable selling costs gives modeled contribution; unsold units and their inventory cost remain visible.
Allocate supplier payments, customer receipts and variable-cost payments across the three periods with separate percentage schedules. Each schedule may total up to 100%; any unallocated balance is shown as unpaid or uncollected carry beyond those periods. Add other receipts and existing commitments separately, excluding the modeled cycle flows. Cash deducts the supplier payments for the full purchase, including unsold stock, rather than substituting cost of goods sold. The lowest tested balance includes opening cash and the three closings. Period totals do not establish the cash low point within a period.
Purchase commitment = purchased units × landed unit cost. Modeled contribution = sold units × (net selling price − landed unit cost − variable selling cost per sold unit). Closing cash = opening cash + allocated settled receipts − allocated supplier and variable-cost payments + other receipts − existing inventory and other payments.
A $26,600 contribution scenario can release only $12,000 of cash
Buy 1,000 units at $30 landed cost: a $30,000 commitment. At 70% sell-through and an $80 net selling price, 700 units generate $56,000 revenue. With $12 variable selling cost per sold unit, contribution is $26,600 after $21,000 sold-product cost and $8,400 variable costs. The 300 unsold units still hold $9,000 of inventory cost. Pay the supplier 50%/50%/0%, collect customer receipts 20%/40%/30%, and pay variable costs 30%/35%/35% across the three periods. The cycle settles $50,400 and pays $38,400, adding $12,000 cash; $5,600 remains uncollected. Starting at $100,000, with $20,000 other receipts and $25,000 other payouts in each period, closings are $88,680, $88,140 and $97,000. The lowest tested balance is $88,140, before checking within-period payment order.
Your full calculation
| Measure | Result · USD |
|---|---|
| Opening available cash | $100,000.0 |
| Period 1: opening cash | $100,000.0 |
| Period 1: cash receipts | $50,000.0 |
| Period 1: inventory payments | $60,000.0 |
| Period 1: other payments | $35,000.0 |
| Period 1: closing cash | $55,000.0 |
| Period 1: closing headroom over floor | $35,000.0 |
| Period 2: opening cash | $55,000.0 |
| Period 2: cash receipts | $65,000.0 |
| Period 2: inventory payments | $45,000.0 |
| Period 2: other payments | $35,000.0 |
| Period 2: closing cash | $40,000.0 |
| Period 2: closing headroom over floor | $20,000.0 |
| Period 3: opening cash | $40,000.0 |
| Period 3: cash receipts | $80,000.0 |
| Period 3: inventory payments | $35,000.0 |
| Period 3: other payments | $35,000.0 |
| Period 3: closing cash | $50,000.0 |
| Period 3: closing headroom over floor | $30,000.0 |
| Total cash receipts | $195,000.0 |
| Total inventory payments | $140,000.0 |
| Total other payments | $105,000.0 |
| Chosen minimum cash floor | $20,000.0 |
| Final closing cash | $50,000.0 |
| Lowest tested cash balanceLowest of opening cash and the three period-end balances; not the lowest intra-period balance. | $40,000.0 |
| Lowest headroom over cash floor | $20,000.0 |
| Additional opening cash needed to meet floorAssumes extra cash is available before the start and no other flows change. | $0.0 |
Questions & answers
Understanding your result
Should I use the direct schedule or buying-cycle mode?
Use the direct schedule when you already have cash receipts and payment amounts for each period. Use buying-cycle mode to connect a specific purchase commitment with entered sell-through, selling economics and payment shares. It is a scenario: the tool does not predict sales timing or stock arrivals, and stock must be available to fulfill the sales assumed.
Why can contribution differ from cash generated?
Contribution charges the landed cost of units sold, while cash may pay for every unit purchased, including unsold stock. Some customer revenue may not yet have settled, or supplier and variable-cost balances may remain unpaid. The planner shows these carried balances separately instead of treating contribution as available cash.
How should I allocate receipts and payments across the periods?
Enter separate schedules for supplier payments, customer settlements and variable-cost payouts based on their expected cash timing. Each schedule can total no more than 100%. The remainder carries beyond the modeled periods. Other receipts, existing inventory payments and other payouts must exclude those modeled flows, so each receipt or payment is counted once.
Does staying above the cash floor prove the buying plan is safe?
It shows the opening and period-end checkpoints remain above your chosen floor under the entries supplied. A supplier payment early in a period and customer settlement late in that period can still create a shortfall between checkpoints. Check actual due dates, settlement delays, stock availability, sales assumptions and the completeness of other payments before committing.