Cutting Dead Stock and Turning Inventory Faster
How to analyse sell-through and act on slow-moving alerts to turn idle stock back into cash.
Published
Cutting Dead Stock and Turning Inventory Faster
Dead stock is cash sitting on a shelf. Reducing it does not mean discounting everything — it means seeing the problem earlier and having a plan before the goods lose their value.
Start by measuring turnover
Calculate inventory turnover and days of inventory for each product group, then rank the slowest movers. The number tells you which group is holding most of the cash and where to start.
Set slow-moving alerts
Define how many days without movement should raise a flag (60, 90, 180) and have the system alert you when an item crosses it, with the remaining value and recent sales attached so the owner can act immediately.
- Separate temporarily slow (seasonal) stock from permanently slow stock.
- Check the usual causes: over-ordering, bad forecasts, or a newer model replacing it.
- Decide the disposal route up front: bundle, transfer to another branch, or return to the supplier.
Match the fix to the cause
Over-ordered items need smaller, more frequent orders. Superseded items need to move before they lose value. Items stuck in the wrong branch can be transferred to where they sell, which usually protects margin far better than a blanket discount.
Stop it from coming back
Review Min-Max thresholds every quarter, forecast from real sales data, and let the system alert on slow movers automatically so the problem surfaces long before the stock becomes dead.
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