--- title: "Calculating stock turnover: what the figure says about your shop | Spreat" description: "Calculating stock turnover: formula, worked example, how it relates to days in stock and tied-up capital - and why a low turn in small stores is rarely about buying." url: "https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/stock-turnover-calculation" language: "en" --- [Back](https://spreat.com/en/stories?tag=industry) - Retail & insights # Calculating stock turnover: what the figure says about your shop How often does your stock turn in a year? The formula takes two minutes. It gets interesting at the question of why your figure looks the way it does. 7 October 2025 Translated from German [Read the original version](https://spreat.com/stories/industry/lagerumschlag-berechnen) ![A stock that turns three times a year](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/lagerumschlag-berechnen/cover-en-800.webp) Stock turnover says how often your stock turns over completely in a year. The formula: annual cost of goods sold divided by average stock, both at cost. If it comes out at 3, you have sold your stock three times and rebuilt it three times - on average every item then sits in the shop for about four months. ## The maths €120,000 cost of goods a year, €40,000 average stock. 120,000 ÷ 40,000 = **3.0**. Days in stock is the inverse: 365 ÷ 3 = roughly **122 days**. The most honest average stock comes from several counting dates - opening and closing balance alone distort things when the Christmas assortment is on the shelf in December. Four quarterly figures are quite enough. 3.0 stock turns a year €120,000 cost of goods, €40,000 stock 122 days average days in stock 365 divided by the turn 4 counting dates for the average one per quarter - two figures distort too much ## What counts as a good figure There is none that holds across sectors. A grocer turns in double digits, a furniture store sits below two, and both are right. Compare your turn to an industry figure off the internet and you are usually comparing two different methods. The useful comparison is your own: the same shop, the same quarter last year, the same formula. And the second useful comparison is inside the shop - which category turns, which stands. ## Why the figure looks low in small shops Usually not because of bad buying. Rather because choice on a small floor inevitably costs depth: show twelve categories with little room and you carry a few units of each - and few units per item mean small order quantities, worse terms, and rarely the point at which something really turns. A low turn is therefore often a symptom of liquidity, not of buying quality. What sits behind it is set out in [tied-up capital in retail](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/tied-up-capital-retail) - and what a single misjudgement really costs, in [what a bad buy really costs](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/what-a-bad-buy-costs). ## The special case: goods that are not yours If the floor carries goods that belong to the brand until they sell, they do not appear in your stock at all. Your turn improves - not because you buy better, but because the denominator gets smaller. That is not creative accounting as long as you know it: the metric then measures only your own assortment, while the floor shows more than before. Anyone wanting to steer both keeps two numbers - turnover for your own goods, sales per metre for the floor. Annual cost of goods sold divided by average stock, both at cost. For the average, take several counting dates, not just the opening and closing balance. The same information the other way round. Days in stock is 365 divided by the turn. A turn of 3 is about 122 days, a turn of 6 about 61. At cost, in both numerator and denominator. Divide turnover by stock at cost and you get a bigger number that means nothing - that is exactly how industry figures that do not match one another come about. Economically no, because it is not your capital. It stands on your floor and has to be steered there, but it does not belong in the turnover calculation of your own stock. Two numbers, one floor. Work out what your space brings in with goods that do not tie up your capital. [To the store calculator](https://spreat.com/en/stores/pricing) Written by [Mattis Klöpperon LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattis-kloepper/) Co-founder and managing director Share this article ## More stories - [![Weeks instead of months into physical retail, and what a brand's risk really costs](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/schnellster-weg-in-den-einzelhandel/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights - Product ## The fastest route into physical retail - and what it really costs a brand With Spreat, the brand carries the stock risk. That is true. But how big it is can be put in euros - and set against the routes where the retailer takes on the risk and gets paid for it. 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Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/work-brand-goods-in-store) - [![Eight questions from Reddit and forums on consignment, commission and stock without buying it](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/reddit-fragen-kommission-marktplatz-store/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights ## The marketplace in the store: what retailers and brands ask on Reddit and in forums Eight questions about consignment, commission and stock without buying it, as they appear on Reddit, in German seller forums and on gutefrage - with the community's answers and what Spreat made of them. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/reddit-questions-consignment-in-store-marketplace) ## And how about you? Store or brand - the way in is a different one. Tell us which side you are coming from. [I have a store](https://spreat.com/en/stores) [I have a brand](https://spreat.com/en/brands)