Sell-Through Rate Calculator

Over a full season, 80% or better is a strong buy and anything above 90% suggests you could have bought more. For a monthly check, many retailers aim for 20–40% of on-hand stock selling each month. Below 40% for a season means over-buying; the remaining units will eat margin through markdowns and holding costs.

Match the period to the decision. Grade a seasonal buy over the season (8–13 weeks); monitor a new product weekly for its first 4–6 weeks to decide on reorders early; review evergreen SKUs monthly. The key discipline is consistency: comparing this month’s 30-day rate against last season’s 90-day rate tells you nothing.

Sell-through grades one batch of received stock over one period, in units: did this buy work? Turnover measures the whole operation over a year, in dollars: how fast does capital cycle? A single SKU can have 90% sell-through on a small test order while the store overall turns slowly. Use sell-through for buying decisions, turnover for business health.

Act before the season ends, because options shrink with time. In rough order of margin preserved: push it in email and retargeting, bundle it with a bestseller, mark it down in steps (15%, then 30%), move it through an outlet or marketplace channel, and finally liquidate. The worst plan is letting it sit: holding cost turns a slow product into a loss.