Sell-Through Rate

Sell-through rate measures how much of the stock you had was actually sold over a period such as a week, a month or a season. The most common form divides units sold by units available, which is beginning inventory plus units received. Some sources divide by units received or by beginning inventory alone, and the three can give quite different answers on the same data.

It is a short-window measure used to pace a season and time markdowns, unlike inventory turnover, which measures how many times average inventory is sold over a year. Units sold should be net of returns, and the sales and receipts must cover the same weeks.