Why dead stock matters
It’s frozen capital paying rent: money that can’t buy the next bestseller, occupying shelf and warehouse space, quietly aging toward worthless. Every dead unit was once a purchasing decision, which makes the pile a report card worth reading.
Clearing and preventing dead stock
- Catch it early via sell-through and aging reports
- Markdown ladders, bundles, and outlet channels
- Gifts-with-purchase and donation write-offs at the end
- Feed the lesson back into buying: smaller tests, faster reads
Questions
When does slow stock become dead stock?
Set an aging threshold by category, days since last sale or cover months beyond reason, and act on the report monthly. Undefined, dead stock hides inside “inventory” until the write-off.
Is deep discounting dead stock bad for the brand?
Done constantly on everything, yes; done cleanly on a defined clearance channel, no. Separate the outlet from the main line and the full-price story survives.