Inventory glossary

What is Slow-moving inventory?

Slow-moving inventory is stock that sells much slower than the rest of your catalog, tying up cash and shelf space without turning into revenue at a normal pace.

Slow-moving inventory costs you money even if you never mark it down. Cash sits in boxes instead of funding your next order of items that actually sell, and you still pay rent or storage fees on the space it takes up.

Watch sell-through rate and days of supply per SKU regularly. When an item slips from normal velocity to slow, cut future order quantities before the problem grows, and consider a discount or bundle to move existing stock rather than letting it sit indefinitely.

Example

A gift shop has 200 units of a scented candle. It sells 2 units a week, so it will take 100 weeks to clear. Its other candles sell 20 units a week and clear in 10 weeks. The scented candle is slow-moving by comparison.

Common mistakes

  • Treating slow-moving and dead stock as the same thing, when slow-moving items still sell, just not quickly.
  • Reordering a full case pack out of habit instead of checking if demand has actually dropped.
  • Ignoring slow movers until they become obsolete instead of discounting or bundling them early.

Slow-moving inventory and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf's forecasts flag SKUs with falling demand so you can lower reorder quantities before more slow-moving stock piles up.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Dead stock · Excess inventory · Inventory turnover · Sell-through rate · Days of supply

Full inventory glossary

FAQ

How do you measure if an item is slow-moving

A slow-moving ratio compares days of supply or turnover across SKUs. If a candle takes 150 days to sell through and your average SKU takes 40 days, it is slow relative to your own catalog, not against an outside benchmark.

Should you stop reordering slow-moving items

Yes. If the trend is a real drop in sales, reorder smaller quantities or stop reordering. If it is a one-time overbuy, let it sell down before placing a new PO for that SKU.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

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