Sell-Through Rate Calculator
Calculate sell-through rate from units sold and units received, with benchmarks by category and what to do when the rate is too low or too high.
Reasonable mid-season figure for most categories. Track the trend week over week.
Sell-through = units sold ÷ units received, per period (usually monthly). It measures buying accuracy; inventory turnover measures the same idea in dollars across the year.
Frequently asked questions
How is sell-through rate calculated?
Units sold ÷ units received (or on hand at the start of the period) × 100, usually measured monthly. Receiving 500 units and selling 320 is a 64% sell-through.
What is a good sell-through rate?
For a monthly window, 40–80% is the broadly healthy band: below ~40% suggests over-buying or weak demand; consistently above ~80–90% early in a period usually means you under-bought and are losing sales to stockouts. Fashion aims to clear 70%+ before end-of-season markdowns.
Sell-through vs inventory turnover — what is the difference?
Sell-through is a short-period, unit-based measure of how well a specific buy performed. Turnover is an annualized, cost-based measure of overall inventory efficiency. Use sell-through to judge purchasing decisions and turnover to judge the business.
What should I do about a low sell-through product?
In order: check merchandising and search visibility, test price/markdowns or bundles, then cut the reorder. The discipline is acting before it becomes dead stock — inventory that never sells is pure carrying cost.