of what significance is inventory turnover to a retail store? course hero

by Lysanne Haley 5 min read

Inventory turnover is a critical ratio that retailers can use to ensure they are managing their store’s inventory and supply chain well. It is one of the crucial KPIs used to measure the overall performance of your business. Put simply, it is how many times during a certain calendar period you sell and replace your entire inventory.

Full Answer

What is'inventory turnover'?

What is 'Inventory Turnover'. Inventory turnover is a ratio showing how many times a company has sold and replaced inventory during a given period. A company can then divide the days in the period by the inventory turnover formula to calculate the days it takes to sell the inventory on hand.

What is a good inventory turnover ratio for retail?

What is a good inventory turnover ratio for retail? The sweet spot for inventory turnover is between 2 and 4. A low inventory turnover may mean either a weak sales team performance or a decline in the popularity of your products. In most cases (read: not always), the higher the inventory turnover rate, the better your business goals are being met.

How often does a retail store go through inventory?

If your retail store is going through its inventory 9 times a year, your purchasing levels might be too low – potentially leading to lost sales if the product is sold out. Why do you need to measure inventory turnover?

How many times does a company turn over inventory in a year?

In other words, within a year Company ABC tends to turn over its inventory 40 times. Taking it a step further, dividing 365 days by the inventory turnover shows how many days on average it takes a company to sell its inventory. In the case of Company ABC, it’s 9.1.

What Is the Inventory Turnover Ratio?

The ratio used to calculate your inventory turnover identifies the cycles of a certain product over a specified time frame. Understanding how fast...

How Can You Calculate Stock Turnover?

To calculate inventory turnover, divide your total sales by the average inventory on hand. In order to get your average inventory, add the beginnin...

What About Using Costs of Goods Sold to Calculate Inventory Turnover?

You can also use the costs of goods sold (COGS) as an alternative method of calculating your inventory turnover. This helps prevent stock turnover...

What Is the Ideal Inventory Turnover Rate or Ratio?

For most retailers, the optimal range for your stock turn is between 2 and 4.

How Can You Improve Retail Stock Turn?

There are several ways to learn from your inventory turnover ratio and apply it to changes in your business. Take for example Stock Turnover by Cat...

What Is Inventory Turnover in Retail?

Sometimes referred to as stock turnover, or simply inventory turn, turnover in inventory is measured by taking the number of times a certain product is sold in a single year. By calculating your inventory turnover, your business will have a better idea of overall performance and profitability.

What About Using Costs of Goods Sold to Calculate Inventory Turnover?

You can also use the costs of goods sold (COGS) as an alternative method of calculating your inventory turnover. This helps prevent stock turnover inflation because it takes into account the costs of the materials used to produce the item.

How Can You Calculate Stock Turnover?

To calculate inventory turnover, divide your total sales by the average inventory on hand. Average inventory is important because the value of your inventory can change dramatically at any given time, thereby not reflecting accurate data. This is particularly important for any business that uses dynamic pricing strategies. Figuring out your stock turnover with the average inventory, therefore, will provide more reliable results.

How Can You Improve Retail Stock Turn?

There are several ways to learn from your inventory turnover ratio and apply it to changes in your business.

What is cost of goods?

Costs of goods take the beginning inventory of the determined reference time frame and add all production costs and new purchases made by the company. Whatever additional inventory that is left at the end of the year is subtracted and the result is the final costs of goods sold.

What are other areas that can be adjusted by A/B testing different time periods and measure the stock turnover ratios?

Pricing and promotional strategies are other areas that can be adjusted by A/B testing different time periods and measure the stock turnover ratios.

How to find average inventory?

In order to get your average inventory, add the beginning and ending inventory or the given period of time and divide by 2. For even more accurate results, take additional inventory measurements at various times. Add these to the numerator and divide by however many total counts you completed.

Why is inventory turnover important?

Inventory turnover is an especially important piece of data for maximizing efficiency in the sale of perishable and other time-sensitive goods. Some examples could be milk, eggs, produce, fast fashion, automobiles, and periodicals.

What Is a Good Inventory Turnover?

As a general rule, industries stocking products that are relatively inexpensive will tend to have higher inventory turnovers, whereas more expensive items—where customers usually take more time before making a purchase decision—will tend to have lower inventory turnovers.

How Do you Calculate Inventory Turnover?

Inventory turnover is a measure of how quickly a company sells its inventory in a year and is often used as a metric of overall operational efficiency.

Why do analysts divide COGS by average inventory?

Analysts divide COGS by average inventory, instead of sales, for greater accuracy in the inventory turnover calculation because sales include a markup over cost. Dividing sales by average inventory inflates inventory turnover. In both situations, average inventory is used to help remove seasonality effects.

How to find average inventory?

Calculating the average inventory, which is done by dividing the sum of beginning inventory and ending inventory by two.

How many times does an ABC turn over inventory?

In other words, within a year Company ABC tends to turn over its inventory 40 times. Taking it a step further, dividing 365 days by the inventory turnover shows how many days on average it takes a company to sell its inventory. In the case of Company ABC, it’s 9.1.

Why do retailers use open to buy?

Some retailers may employ an open-to-buy system as they seek to manage their inventories and the replenishment of their inventories more efficiently. Open-to-buy systems, at their core, are software budgeting systems for purchasing merchandise. Such a system can be used to monitor merchandise and may be integrated into a retailer's financing and inventory control processes.

What is inventory turnover?

Also referred to as “stock turn,” “inventory turn,” or “stock turnover,” inventory turnover is a measurement of the number of times inventory is sold in one year. In accounting practices, it is usually calculated for the year but could also be done on a monthly or quarterly basis.

What does it mean when a company has an inventory turnover of 0.29?

Their inventory turnover is 0.29, indicating that they are spending too much money on holding costs (storage costs), and items are lingering on the shelves. Being overstocked potentially points to inefficiencies in marketing, sales, and purchasing or to an economic downturn on a local, regional, or national level.

How do salespeople work?

Here are some of the ways the various teams can work together: 1 The salespeople are the front line of retail and can gauge whether a product is a hit or a flop with your customers. 2 The marketing department may have to work on increasing foot traffic through events or improving your online visuals for certain products. 3 Management and the purchasing department need to review inventory turnover to determine what items generate the most profit and what items are not worth ordering anymore due to a lack of consumer interest.

Why is it important to monitor stock turn?

Closely monitoring stock turn also gives you a better handle on your inventory so you can make smarter purchasing decisions, keep merchandise moving, and sell more of the products your customers want.

Why do management and purchasing departments need to review inventory turnover?

Management and the purchasing department need to review inventory turnover to determine what items generate the most profit and what items are not worth ordering anymore due to a lack of consumer interest.

What is the sweet spot for inventory turnover?

The sweet spot for inventory turnover is between 2 and 4. A low inventory turnover may mean either a weak sales team performance or a decline in the popularity of your products. In most cases (read: not always), the higher the inventory turnover rate, the better your business goals are being met. That said, an extremely high turnover rate is not ...

How important is stock turn number?

Being aware of your business’ stock turn number is important, but it will be doubly helpful to know how your business compares with others in your industry. For instance, the Houston Chronicle cites that “the average merchandise turnover in the retail clothing industry for the 12-month period ending June 2011, was 3.91.”

What is inventory turnover?

Inventory turnover is the number of times that a retailer sells and replaces its inventory. It is a measure of the rate at which merchandise flows into and out of your store. For example; if a retailer has an annual inventory turnover of eight, it means that they have completely sold out its entire inventory eight times over the whole year.

How does inventory turnover affect retail?

How Inventory Turnover Can Affect Your Retail Business. Inventory turnover is a critical ratio that retailers can use to ensure they are managing their store’s inventory and supply chain well. It is one of the crucial KPIs used to measure the overall performance of your business. Put simply, it is how many times during a certain calendar period you ...

How Do We Calculate Inventory Turnover?

Inventory turnover can be calculated for the entire business as well as by department or item category. Assessing inventory turnover by item category would also be helpful to compare the performance of different items. This is important because not all turnover rates are the same; some items might turn more slowly than others. Consider, for example, that you have an online store where you sell T-shirts. Basic plain T-shirts could have a higher inventory turn than designed T-shirts. After all, people wear basic T-shirts more often, and they need them more than patterned ones.

Why is inventory turnover higher than average?

However, higher-than-average Inventory Turnover doesn’t always mean that you are doing great. It could be a sign of an ineffective sourcing strategy, in which a retailer purchases inventory too often in small quantities. Doing so can drive up the purchase price because of things like unnecessary shipment costs. It can also imply a risk of shortage in your supply chain, leading to inadequate inventory.

Why is high inventory turnover important?

High inventory turnover is key to keeping shelves stocked with fresh products and keeping the cash flowing. After all, cash is king in retail! The most successful retailers purchase inventory, sell it fast, and then repurchase more products for their customers at a high rate.

How to find the average number of days that we held inventory?

If we divide the number of days within the calculated calendar period by the Inventory Turnover Ratio, we will find the average number of days that we held our inventory.

What does it mean when inventory is backlogged?

It could mean that your inventory is backlogged, or you are accumulating inventory faster than you can sell it. A good way to solve for this in the retail industry, for example, is sticking with seasonal or trendy items in order to sell faster.