If you sell $100,000 of books per annum then:

$25,000 of books in stock (retail value) would equate to a stock turn of 4
$33,000 of books would equate to a stock turn of 3
$50,000 of books would equate to a stock turn of 2
$10,000 of books would equate to a stock turn of 10

If your stock turnover is too low, that means you have too much money tied up in books on the shelves, and your shop will start to look tired – customers will keep seeing the same stock.

If your stock turnover is too high, (eg. 10), then you are probably losing sales because of low stock levels – not enough diversity of books to interest all your customers.

Calculating stock turn ratios is a good way to monitor your stock levels and decide to reduce or increase your inventory – or motivate you to increase your sales.

However, it is also true for smaller shops that simply looking at your shelves and talking to your customers will quickly reveal if your stock is looking tired or if the cupboard is bare…

For a more detailed introduction to stock turn rates, Retail Times have produced a very clear and succinct article explaining the stock turn rates and their significance.

(1) Sleep on a problem
(2) Make an oasis – set boundaries of time and space with no interruptions

Finished with the observation that it takes similar skills to know you are good at something as to be good at it. Similarly if you are hopeless at something, you are likely to be hopeless at recognising your lack of skill. And even if you can recognise creativity in others, if you are not creative you may not value that skill in others.