Every shop has a few items that sit on the shelf for months. Each one holds money that could have bought something that sells. You do not need a spreadsheet to find them. If your stock is kept in eKhata, the answer is already in your records. This guide shows how to look for slow items, what to do with them and how to avoid buying more.
Key points
- Slow stock ties up cash that could be working for you
- A product's movement ledger shows when it last sold
- Inventory value shows how much money the stock holds at cost
- Decide on slow items, then buy less of them next time
Why slow stock matters
Money spent on stock that does not sell is money you cannot use for rent, salaries or fast-moving goods. It also takes shelf space, and some goods lose value or get damaged the longer they wait.
The aim is not zero slow stock. It is to know what is slow and to decide, rather than discover it at the year-end count.
Start with the inventory value
The stock screen shows total products and the inventory value, which is the stock you hold priced at cost. This is the figure that tells you how much money is on the shelf. A high value is fine if it is moving, and a worry if it is not.
You can also view stock as of a chosen date, which helps you compare how much you held then with now.
Read each product's movement ledger
Open a product and read its movement ledger. It lists every stock in and stock out with dates. Look at the last line of stock out. If the most recent sale was months ago, the item is slow.
- When did it last sell?
- How often has it sold in the last few months?
- How much did you buy compared with how much left?
Decide what to do
For each slow item you have a few honest choices. Sell it at a smaller margin to free the cash, bundle it with a fast seller, return it to the supplier if you can, or accept that it is a slow product and hold less next time.
Whichever you pick, the sale is recorded through a normal bill, so stock and profit stay accurate.
Buy smarter next time
The best way to deal with slow stock is to stop making more of it. Before you reorder, check how fast the product really sells. Set a low-stock level that triggers a reorder of a sensible quantity, not a large one. Weighted average cost will show you the effect of each purchase on your cost.
Look at the profit and loss report each month too. If purchases keep growing faster than sales, stock is building up somewhere.