ADV (Average Daily Volume)

Amazon & D2C glossary · Harpy Media

ADV (Average Daily Volume) is your product’s daily sales velocity: total units sold in a period divided by the days in that period. The simplest metric in the business — and the one every other inventory decision is built on.

What is ADV?

ADV (Average Daily Volume) is your product’s daily sales velocity: total units sold in a period divided by the days in that period. The simplest metric in the business — and the one every other inventory decision is built on.

Reorder points, safety stock, FBA replenishment cadence, launch inventory depth: all of them are ADV multiplied by time. Get ADV wrong and you either buy stockouts (under-ordering) or storage fees (over-ordering). There is no third option.

How to calculate it — and which window to trust

Basic form first:

ADV is a living number — track it in layers

A single static average lies to you twice a year: once when seasonality rises under it, once when it falls. Watch 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day ADV side by side. The 7-day shows this week’s reality (did the price change or ad push move velocity?), the 30-day smooths weekly noise, the 90-day reveals the trend that should drive purchasing. When the 7-day runs persistently above the 90-day, demand is accelerating — reorder early. When it runs below, stop ordering on the old number before you buy a shelf-full of tomorrow’s problem.

In practice

A product sells 900 units over 30 days — ADV of 30. Lead time is 45 days including freight and receiving. Reorder point = 30 × 45 = 1,350 units plus a 10% safety cushion. When a competitor stocks out and 7-day ADV jumps to 48, the seller reorders 12 days earlier than the calendar said — and rides the competitor’s absence at full stock instead of discovering the surge from an empty shelf.

How Harpy Media helps

We run velocity-tracked replenishment for every SKU we manage — the reorder calendar follows the data, not the habit. Stockouts and overstock are both planning failures, and both are avoidable.

ADV FAQ

What is Average Daily Volume?

Units sold per day over a chosen window — your product’s daily sales velocity, the base number for all inventory planning.

Should I use 7-day, 30-day, or 90-day ADV?

All three, layered: 7-day for immediate moves, 30-day for operations, 90-day for purchasing. Divergence between them is itself a signal.

How does ADV affect reorder timing?

Reorder point = ADV × lead time + safety stock. When ADV changes, the reorder date changes — automatically, or expensively.