Dead stock cost calculator
"We will sell it eventually" survives because holding requires no decision. This prices the default: what eventually costs per month, and whether clearing now at a markdown beats it.
For the slice of stock you suspect is dead: no sale in 60–90 days, or months of cover in double digits. Values at cost.
Cost value of this stock that sells in a typical month, at today's pace.
Storage plus the margin the cash would earn in stock that moves. Most stores land near 2–3%.
What a markdown, bundle, or jobber gets you today, as a share of cost value.
Time to clear at this rate
15 months
"Eventually" costs, per month
£225
The holding bill on the pile as it shrinks.
Holding bill to the end
£3,375
Holding edges it on these numbers, if the current sales rate actually holds. Watch it monthly: the moment the rate slips, the verdict flips.
How it works
Time to clear = stock value ÷ monthly sell-through at the current pace. The holding bill runs on the declining pile (roughly half the stock value over the period) at your monthly holding rate — storage plus the margin the cash would earn in stock that moves; most stores land near 2–3% of value per month.
The comparison is at cost value on both sides. Hold to the end: recover the full cost value, minus the holding bill. Clear now: recover the slider's share of cost value today. Revenue and margin above cost are deliberately out of scope — for stock this slow, the honest question is how much of the cash comes back, not what the label says.
If holding wins on the arithmetic, it wins only while the current sales rate holds, and dead stock rarely speeds up. Recheck monthly. The tie-breaker question stands: would you buy this stock today at what it cost you?
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