Slow-moving inventory

Slow-moving inventory is stock that sells much more slowly than the rest of your products, so it stays on the shelf and ties up money.

By Berend Vrakking, founder of Product Metrics. Updated 7 October 2026.

Formula

Weeks of cover = units on hand ÷ units sold per week

There is no fixed cut-off. Compare each product’s weeks of cover with your other products and with its own season. Dead stock is the extreme case: stock that has stopped selling at all.

Example

Worked example, stock value at cost
Product	On hand	Cost per unit	Sold per week	Weeks of cover	Money tied up
Trail Runner 2	300 units	€50.00	100	3 weeks	€15,000.00
Everyday Sock	600 units	€2.00	150	4 weeks	€1,200.00
Winter Boot	400 units	€40.00	8	50 weeks	€16,000.00

Winter Boot sells far more slowly than the other two and holds the most money, so it is the slow-moving product here. Illustrative data.

For one product, and for an account

A shop can have a good month overall while a few products sit on months of stock, and a total sell-through figure will not show it. Slowness belongs to the product.

Slow stock has different causes. A product nobody sees needs exposure. A product many click but few buy needs less spend. A seasonal product may simply be waiting for its season. Inventory Insights in Product Metrics shows slow stock with its reason, using exposure, product age, seasonality, stock quantity and value, and expected demand, and leaves the decision to you.

Common mistake

Putting every slow product on the same clearance plan. One may need more exposure and the next less ad spend, and those are opposite moves.

Questions

What is the difference between fast-moving and slow-moving inventory?

Fast-moving inventory sells quickly compared with your other products and runs out soon if you do not reorder. Slow-moving inventory takes much longer to sell and keeps cash locked in stock in the meantime. The comparison is between your own products, not against a fixed number.

How do you calculate slow-moving inventory?

Work out weeks of cover for each product: units on hand divided by units sold per week. Products whose cover is far longer than the rest, after allowing for season, are your slow-moving inventory. Multiply units on hand by unit cost to see the money tied up.

What is the difference between slow-moving inventory and dead stock?

Slow-moving inventory still sells, only slowly. Dead stock is stock that has stopped selling altogether, for example a product that is out of season or out of date.

Keep reading

Inventory InsightsSee slow stock together with the reason it is slow.
Days of inventoryThe weeks of cover calculation used to spot slow stock.
Sell-through rateThe share of available units that sold in a period.
Product SegmentationSee each product by volume and return, next to its stock.
Dead stock inventory: how to find it and clear itWhen slow stock becomes dead stock, what it costs, and what to do per product.