Indent
A formal purchase request raised by a distributor or depot to the brand or supplying warehouse, specifying the SKUs and quantities required for replenishment.
Full definition
An indent is the Indian distribution term for a replenishment order placed upstream. When a distributor needs stock, they raise an indent against the brand's depot or factory, specifying the SKUs, quantities, and preferred delivery date. The indent is essentially a purchase order from the channel partner's side, though in many Indian operations the term "indent" is used even for internal stock transfers between a mother warehouse and a forward warehouse.
The indent cycle is the heartbeat of primary sales: distributors indent weekly or bi-weekly based on their secondary sales velocity, stock on hand, and upcoming schemes. Brands often set indent cut-off times (e.g., Tuesday 6 PM for Thursday dispatch) to batch orders and plan production. Late indents miss the cut-off and wait for the next cycle, potentially causing stockouts at retail.
Digital order management platforms let distributors raise indents from a mobile app, auto-suggest quantities based on historical offtake, and feed confirmed indents directly into warehouse picking queues, compressing the indent-to-dispatch cycle from 48 hours to under 12.
Real-world example
A Haldiram's distributor in Jaipur raises a weekly indent every Monday for Rs 4-5 lakh worth of namkeen and sweets, with dispatch expected by Wednesday from the Nagpur factory.
Where it applies
Applicable industries
This term is relevant across the following SpireStock-supported industries.
How SpireStock handles it
Related SpireStock features
The concepts described above are implemented end-to-end in these product modules.
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