How fast does my stock sell through?
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Use the same period for cost of goods sold and stock.
Display only. Your figures are read in the currency you pick — nothing is converted and no exchange rate is applied.
Cost of goods sold for the period, at cost, not at selling price.
At cost. Start and end values, or an average if you track it monthly.
Enter the cost of goods sold over a period, the stock value (start and end, or an average) and how long the period was.
- Cost of goods sold for the periodNeeded
- Stock value: start and end, or an averageNeeded
- Period lengthHave
Planning to clear slow stock with a price cut? Check what it costs first with the discount impact calculator, or move it in a set with the bundle pricing calculator.
No benchmark ratio is used. The currency is a label only and nothing is converted. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Cost of goods, average stock and days on hand
Inventory turnover counts how many times your average stock sold through in a period, and days of inventory turns that into how long what you hold would last, so a boutique that sold 90,000 dollars of goods at cost in a quarter while holding 36,000 dollars on average turned its stock 2.5 times and holds about 36 days of it.
No industry ratio is used: the answer comes from your own cost of goods and stock values. Pricing slow lines to move? Check the margin first with the markup calculator.
Everything here is valued at cost. Mixing a retail-price stock figure with a cost-of-goods figure is the most common way this ratio comes out wrong.
- Cost of goods sold
- What the products you sold in the period cost you to buy or make, not what you sold them for. Your accounting app or the cost column in your sales report gives it.
- Beginning and ending stock
- The value of what you had on hand, at cost, on the first and last day of the period. Their midpoint stands in for the average when you have nothing better.
- Average stock
- If you track stock value month by month, an average of those readings is more accurate than two end points, especially across a season with a big buy-in. Switch the input to average and enter it directly.
- Turnover
- How many times the average stock was sold and replaced in the period. Two turns in a quarter means the typical unit sat for about half the quarter.
- Days of inventory
- How long the stock you hold would last at the pace you sold in the period, if nothing new came in. It is the same fact as turnover, told in days.
- Yearly pace
- For a period shorter or longer than a year, the turnover the same pace would give over twelve months. It makes a monthly figure comparable with an annual one.
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How fast five stores sell through their stock
Invented stores in US dollars, not real books. The calculator above and this table call the same function.
| Store | Average stock | Turnover | Days on hand | Yearly pace | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion boutique, one quarter | $36,000.00 | 2.50 times | 36 days | 10.0 times | Stock lasts about 36 days |
| Specialty coffee, one month | $6,000.00 | 3.00 times | 10 days | 36.5 times | Stock lasts about 10 days |
| Furniture store, one year | $160,000.00 | 3.00 times | 122 days | 3.00 times | Stock lasts about 122 days |
| Jewellery, one month | $95,000.00 | 0.13 times | 238 days | 1.54 times | Stock outlasts the period |
| Supplements, a 60 day stretch | $23,000.00 | 2.17 times | 28 days | 13.2 times | Stock lasts about 28 days |
What a turnover ratio hides
An average across every product
One figure blends fast sellers with the stock that has not moved in months. A healthy overall ratio can hide a corner of dead stock; run the calculator on a single collection or category to find it.
Seasonal buying skews the end points
If the period ends just after a big delivery, ending stock is high and turnover looks slow. Use an average of monthly stock readings, or pick a period that does not start or end on a buy-in.
Cost and retail values must match
Stock counted at retail price against cost of goods sold at cost understates turnover. Keep both at cost.
Faster is not always better
Very high turnover can mean you are running out and losing sales. The ratio says how quickly stock moves, not whether you had enough of the right items.
Pre-orders and dropshipping
Products you never hold do not belong in either figure. Leave their cost out of cost of goods sold, or the ratio will be inflated by sales with no stock behind them.
Inventory turnover questions
How do I calculate inventory turnover for my store?
Enter the cost of goods sold for a period, your stock value at the start and end of that period (or an average) and how long it was. The calculator returns the turnover, the days of stock you hold and the yearly pace. A boutique with 90,000 dollars of cost of goods sold in a quarter and 36,000 dollars of average stock turned it 2.5 times.
What is a good inventory turnover ratio?
It depends so much on the product that a single number would mislead: fresh food turns weekly, fine jewellery might turn once a year. Compare your ratio with your own past periods, and with the cash you want freed up, rather than with a published average.
What is the difference between turnover and days of inventory?
They are the same measurement from two sides. Turnover says how many times stock sold through in the period; days of inventory says how long what you hold would last at that pace. Three turns in a year is about 122 days of stock.
Should I use retail value or cost for stock?
Cost, to match cost of goods sold. Mixing the two understates turnover by roughly your markup.
How can I improve a slow turnover?
Buy in smaller, more frequent batches, stop reordering the lines that do not move, and clear the slow ones with a time-limited offer rather than an open-ended sale. Run the calculator on the slow category before and after to see the change.
Is my stock data sent anywhere?
No. The figures stay in the page, and nothing about your store is stored or sent.
Knowing which stock sits is half of it. Moving it is the other half.
Nudgesmart can run a clearance offer as a notification bar or a discount popup, shown to shoppers already browsing your store.