Short answer: What is fill rate? It is the share of what customers ordered that you actually shipped on the first delivery. If a store orders 100 cases and you ship 95, your case fill rate for that order is 95%. For c-store and gas station distributors, it is one of the clearest signs of whether stores can count on you.
Fill rate sounds like a warehouse metric, but store managers feel it directly. Every line you short is an empty slot on their shelf, a call to your rep or a reason to try another supplier. This guide covers the common ways to calculate fill rate, what pulls it down and how small distributors can improve it without buying an ERP.
What is fill rate in distribution?
Fill rate is the percentage of customer demand you fill from stock on hand, at the time of the order, without a backorder or substitution. It measures how well your inventory and fulfillment match what customers asked for.
Wikipedia’s entry on fill rate gives the same basic definition and notes that fill rate is not the same as service level. It is also different from on-time delivery. A truck can arrive right on schedule and still be missing a third of the order. Fill rate looks at what was on the truck, not when it showed up.
How do you calculate fill rate?
The basic formula is simple: fill rate = quantity shipped ÷ quantity ordered × 100. What changes is what you count. Most distributors track one or more of these versions.
Case or unit fill rate
Count the cases or units shipped against the cases or units ordered. If stores ordered 1,000 cases across the week and you shipped 960, your case fill rate is 96%. It is the most common version and the easiest to explain.
Line fill rate
Count order lines shipped complete against total lines ordered. If an order has 40 lines and 38 ship in full, the line fill rate is 95%. A line that ships 11 of 12 cases counts as a miss. This version catches the small shorts that case fill rate can hide.
Order fill rate
Count orders shipped 100% complete against total orders. If 180 of 200 store orders shipped with nothing missing, the order fill rate is 90%. It is the strictest version and the closest to how a store manager thinks: “Did I get everything I asked for?”
Example: one c-store order, three fill rates
Here is a simple example. A gas station orders 20 lines totaling 200 cases. Two lines come up short: you ship 8 of 10 cases of one energy drink and 0 of 6 cases of a seasonal candy.
- Case fill rate: 192 ÷ 200 = 96%
- Line fill rate: 18 ÷ 20 = 90%
- Order fill rate for that order: 0%, because it did not ship complete
All three numbers are correct. They just answer different questions, so pick the ones that match what you want to manage and track them the same way every week.
What is a good fill rate for a distributor?
A good fill rate is one that is high and steady enough that stores stop planning around your shorts. There is no single standard that fits every product line. Shelf-stable snacks and drinks should run higher than seasonal, promotional or allocated items. Set a target for each category, measure against it every week and focus on the trend.
What lowers fill rate?
Most fill rate problems trace back to a handful of causes:
- Inaccurate inventory. The system says 12 cases, the shelf has 4. A steady cycle counting habit catches these gaps before an order does.
- Late or short supplier deliveries. If inbound stock arrives after the pick, the order goes out short.
- Picking errors. A look-alike UPC or a mis-slotted item can turn a full shelf into a short line. Clear pick tickets tied to live stock reduce guesswork.
- Overselling. Reps or phone orders promise product that is already committed to another store.
- No reorder points. Without low-stock alerts, you find out you are out when the picker does.
How to improve your fill rate
You do not need a big system change to move the number. Start with these steps:
- Measure it the same way every week. Choose case and line fill rate, track them by customer and category, and keep the formula consistent.
- Look at the shorts, not just the total. List the items that cause most of your misses. Often a small group of SKUs drives most of the problem.
- Fix inventory accuracy first. Count the problem items, correct the system quantity and find out why it drifted.
- Set reorder points for fast movers. Use real sales velocity and supplier lead times, and review them when demand shifts.
- Show availability at order time. When stores or reps can see what is in stock, fewer orders are placed for product you cannot ship.
- Track every short as a backorder. A short that is recorded and followed up is a delay. A short that is forgotten is a lost sale. See what a backorder is and how to handle one.
How order software helps fill rate
Fill rate improves when orders, inventory and picking share the same numbers. In Wholtra, inventory management tracks stock by UPC and flags low inventory, pick tickets show what is available while the warehouse picks, and backorders are tracked against the order so short items are not forgotten. Stores can also order through a portal instead of texts and calls, which cuts down on retyping mistakes.
If you supply convenience stores and gas stations, our page on software for convenience store distributors shows how those pieces fit together.
FAQ
What is fill rate in simple terms?
Fill rate is the percentage of an order you shipped in full the first time. If a store ordered 50 cases and received 45, the fill rate was 90%. The rest was short, backordered or substituted.
What is the difference between fill rate and order accuracy?
Fill rate measures whether you shipped the quantity that was ordered. Order accuracy measures whether what you shipped was correct: the right items, sizes and prices. You can have a high fill rate and still ship the wrong flavor, so track both.
Is line fill rate or case fill rate better?
Neither is better; they show different things. Case fill rate shows overall volume shipped. Line fill rate shows how often individual items came up short. Many distributors track both, because a few small shorts can hurt a store more than the case total suggests.
How often should I measure fill rate?
Weekly works well for most small distributors. It is frequent enough to spot a problem item before stores complain, and long enough to smooth out one bad delivery day. Review it by customer and by category.
See how Wholtra can help
If shorts are costing you shelf space, request a Wholtra quote and we can walk through how orders, inventory and backorders work together for your routes.
