What causes an increase in inventory turnover?
Andrew Campbell
Updated on January 02, 2026
Companies can increase the inventory turnover ratio by driving input costs lower and sales higher. Cost management lowers the cost of goods sold, which drives profitability and cash flow higher. Reducing supplier lead times could also increase turnover ratios.
What inventory turnover tells us?
Inventory turnover shows how quickly a company can sell (turn over) its inventory. Basically, DSI is the number of days it takes to turn inventory into sales, while inventory turnover determines how many times in a year inventory is sold or used.
Is high inventory turnover good or bad?
In general, the higher the inventory turnover ratio of a company in a given year, the better it is for the company’s future. Low inventory turnover means low sales, too much inventory or overstocking and poor liquidity of its inventory.
What does a decrease in inventory turnover mean?
When a company’s inventory turnover is decreasing, it means that it is holding its inventory longer than previously measured time periods. The measure of how long a company holds its inventory before selling it is referred to as the inventory turnover ratio.
What is considered a good inventory turnover ratio?
A good inventory turnover ratio is between 5 and 10 for most industries, which indicates that you sell and restock your inventory every 1-2 months. This ratio strikes a good balance between having enough inventory on hand and not having to reorder too frequently.
What is a good number for inventory turnover?
What is the ideal inventory turnover?
between 5 and 10
A good inventory turnover ratio is between 5 and 10 for most industries, which indicates that you sell and restock your inventory every 1-2 months. This ratio strikes a good balance between having enough inventory on hand and not having to reorder too frequently.
What is a good inventory turnover?
What effect in the income statement if there is a low inventory turnover?
If your business buys goods and offers them for resale, your inventory will factor into your balance sheet as part of cost of goods sold (COGS). If you buy less inventory, your income statement figure for COGS will be lower than if you bought more, assuming you’ve sold what you bought.
Is it better to have a higher or lower inventory turnover ratio?
The higher the inventory turnover, the better, since high inventory turnover typically means a company is selling goods quickly, and there is considerable demand for their products. Low inventory turnover, on the other hand, would likely indicate weaker sales and declining demand for a company’s products.
What is considered a good inventory turnover?
An inventory turnover ratio between 4 and 6 is usually a good indicator that restock rate and sales are balanced, although every business is different. This good ratio means you will neither run out of products nor have an abundance of unsold items filling up storage space.
What is a good inventory percentage?
Most sectors maintain inventory levels at between 10-20% of sales. Sectors with the largest inventories are generally those that experience the greatest volatility; as such, the real estate developers often see their inventories fluctuate by 40% of sales (150-odd days) in any given year.
How do I calculate inventory turnover?
You can calculate the inventory turnover ratio by dividing the inventory days ratio by 365 and flipping the ratio. In this example, inventory turnover ratio = 1 / (73/365) = 5. This means the company can sell and replace its stock of goods five times a year.
How does closing inventory affect profit?
The figure for gross profit is achieved by deducting the cost of sale from net sales during the year. An increase in closing inventory decreases the amount of cost of goods sold and subsequently increases gross profit.
How do I calculate how much inventory I need?
To calculate your inventory turnover ratio, divide the costs of goods sold (COGS) — which is the amount of money it takes to produce, process, and carry your products — by the average cost of inventory you have on hand. Say your COGS was $75,000 and the value of the inventory you held was $10,000.
How are inventory turns calculated?
Inventory turnover is a ratio that measures the number of times inventory is sold or consumed in a given time period. Also known as inventory turns, stock turn, and stock turnover, the inventory turnover formula is calculated by dividing the cost of goods sold (COGS) by average inventory.
What is your interpretation of high inventory turnover?
Inventory turnover measures how fast a company sells inventory. A low turnover implies weak sales and possibly excess inventory, also known as overstocking. A high ratio, on the other hand, implies either strong sales or insufficient inventory.
While a lower inventory turnover ratio may point to a lack of sales or excess inventory, a high inventory turnover ratio generally indicates a healthier level of sales or a healthy level of inventory.
What happens when inventory turnover decreases?
What would an inventory turnover of 2.0 indicate?
The outcome number is the total amount of days it will take for a business to run through its entire inventory. Consequently, a turnover rate of 2.0 means a company takes 182.5 days to clear its entire product inventory.
What is a good inventory turnover ratio example?
Inventory turnover = COGS / Average Inventory Value For example, if your COGS was $200,000 in goods last year, and your average inventory value was $50,000, your inventory turnover ratio would be 4.
How do you interpret asset turnover?
The higher the asset turnover ratio, the more efficient a company is at generating revenue from its assets. Conversely, if a company has a low asset turnover ratio, it indicates it is not efficiently using its assets to generate sales.
The golden number for an inventory turnover ratio is anywhere between 2 and 4. If the inventory turnover ratio is low, it can mean that there could be a decline in the popularity of the products or weak sales performance.
between 2 and 4
The golden number for an inventory turnover ratio is anywhere between 2 and 4. If the inventory turnover ratio is low, it can mean that there could be a decline in the popularity of the products or weak sales performance.
How can I improve my inventory turnover ratio?
If you can forecast the demands of the customer correctly, you need to stock only those items. This will reduce your inventory levels, which in turn will increase the inventory turnover ratio. Another way to improve your inventory turnover ratio is to increase sales.
What is the effect of excess inventory on a business?
Excess inventory increases the costs of storage, insurance and security, and losses from theft. A convenient metric is to convert the inventory turnover ratio into the number of days of inventory on hand. To do this, divide 365 days by the turnover ratio.
Why do some industries have higher inventory turnover than others?
As a general rule, industries stocking products that are relatively inexpensive will tend to have higher inventory turnovers, whereas more expensive items—where customers usually take more time before making a purchase decision—will tend to have lower inventory turnovers.
How are cost of goods sold used to calculate inventory turnover?
An alternative method includes using the cost of goods sold (COGS) instead of sales. Analysts divide COGS by average inventory instead of sales for greater accuracy in the inventory turnover calculation because sales include a markup over cost.