If you’re in the business of selling physical goods, then you know that managing inventory is a crucial part of keeping your operation running smoothly. And if you want to be a master at inventory management, then there’s one metric that you need to know inside and out: sell through rate. This article tells you what is sell through rate and how you can calculate it for your business.

What is Sell Through Rate?

What is sell through rate? Sell through rate is a key metric for retail businesses and eCommerce, as it provides insight into how quickly inventory is selling and whether or not there are issues with unsold inventory.

Sell through rate is the rate at which a business sells its stock, turning that into profit.

Companies use sales metrics like “sell through” to evaluate their efficiency in converting their inventories into cash. This can help companies identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as evaluate their overall performance.

Sell Through Rate and Inventory Management

Stock management can be very challenging. If a business has a lot of stock, it may find itself with unsold items.

This can lead to a loss of sales and, ultimately, revenue. If a company doesn’t have enough inventory to meet customer demand, it may lose sales and revenue.

A company must balance its inventory of products with its market demands, and must also minimize its storage costs and time.

The sell through rate is a key metric for understanding how quickly a company is selling its inventory. This information can be used to make necessary changes to inventory strategy. Having a high sell through rate is ideal as it means that the company is selling most, if not all, of the inventory it receives.

Generally, every company tries to sell as much inventory as possible in order to make a profit. A high sell through rate means that the company sells most of what it receives within a particular time period.

Therefore, you don’t need to spend a lot of money stocking excess inventory. This can help you save money in the long run.

A decline in the company’s sell through rate may be because of a seasonal trend.

How Do You Calculate Sell-through Rate?

To calculate the sell through rate of your sales team, take the total number of sales divided by the total number of items sold and times it by 100.

What is the Sell Through Rate Formula?

Sell through rate = (Number of Units Sold / Number of Units Received) x 100

Sell through rate example:

Let’s pretend for a moment that there’s a coffee company called “Bluecart”.

On February 2nd, they have 120 lbs of beans leftover. On December 30th, they purchase 300 lbs of green beans. Throughout November and December, they process all of the beans and sell 180 lbs. On February 3rd, they have 120 lbs of beans leftover.

They still have 120 pounds of roasted coffee left as of January 31st.

Sell through rate = (180 / 300) x 100

Sell through rate = .6 x 100

Sell through rate = 60%

60% of the inventory of coffee beans that Bluecart received in January was sold.

Automated inventory management software typically includes a sell through rate calculator. This tool can be used to quickly and easily determine the percentage of inventory that has been sold.

Calculating your sell through rate can be time-consuming, especially for companies with a lot of different products.

Tips to improve sell through in the retail industry

If you’ve noticed that your salespeople aren’t moving inventory as quickly as you’d like, try the following tips.

Continuously measure it

You can’t improve your sales if you don’t track them. So, it’s crucial that you track your rate of selling.

When you measure something continuously, you can spot trends and make data-backed decisions.

For instance, if you find that an item isn’t selling fast enough, that could prompt you to create a promotional campaign or find a way to get it in front of more customers. 

Keeping track of your selling through rate is a fantastic way to make sure you make the right business decisions. If a particular item has a poor sales record, then you’ll know not to stock it again in the future. This will save you from wasting money on items that customers aren’t interested in.

If a product is selling well, you may want to order more units.

The bottom line is that you won’t be able to make an informed decision unless you consult the data, so it’s important to keep track of your metrics.

Get creative with merchandising

A product with low sales doesn’t necessarily mean that customers aren’t interested. It could just be that the product isn’t marketed or merchandised well.

If customers can’t find your product in the store, or if there’s something wrong with how it’s displayed, that could be why it isn’t selling well. Take a closer look at your merchandising and marketing strategies to see what needs to be changed.

In these cases, it may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your strategies. On the merchandising side, you need to make sure that the necessary SKUs are adequately exposed to shoppers.

Run promotions

If your inventory isn’t moving, consider implementing offers and promotions. The right initiative depends on what you’re selling, but here are a few ideas: -discounts on specific items -free shipping on orders over a certain amount -a contest or giveaway

There are a variety of ways to promote your wares. It all boils down to finding the most effective kind of promotional strategy and using it to your best advantage. With a good plan, you can boost your sales and move more products.

Conclusion

So, what is sell through rate? Sell through rate is the rate at which a business sells its stock, turning that into profit. It is a crucial metric for anyone in the business of selling physical goods.

It provides valuable insights into how well your products are performing and where your stock levels should be. By understanding sell through rate, you can better manage your inventory and keep your operation running smoothly.