A bestseller can hide dead stock: reorder by size and colour

Look below the product total

A line selling twenty units can appear healthy while one colour accounts for eighteen and the others barely move. If the next order repeats the same assortment, the popular variant may sell out again while the slow ones accumulate.

The clothing-retailer discussion linked below describes money tied up in sizes and colours that move differently. Start with a small number of lines where this matters most. You do not need a complete merchandising overhaul to stop one repeatedly unbalanced reorder.

Record availability alongside sales

A variant that sold two units may have been available all month, or it may have sold out on the first day. Those are different demand signals. Record when it was unavailable and check whether staff logged customer requests or offered substitutes.

Do not turn every request into a guaranteed sale. Use it as supporting evidence, alongside actual sales and availability. Also check whether the variant was displayed, priced correctly and described consistently in the till. A data entry error can look like a preference customers never expressed.

Product | Variant | Opening stock | Receipts | Units sold | Returns to saleable stock | Closing saleable stock | Days unavailable | Customer requests | Proposed order

Compare the pack mix with the evidence

Here is an original example: a six-unit supplier pack contains two small, two medium and two large items. Over a comparable period you sold two small, eight medium and two large, with medium unavailable for part of the time. Repeating four packs would bring eight of each size, even though the observed mix was uneven.

Ask whether you can order variants individually or change the assortment. If not, calculate the extra slow stock created by each pack and decide whether the popular variant's sales justify that exposure. A lower unit price can be outweighed by buying units you are unlikely to sell.

Keep substitutes and returns visible. A customer who accepted a different colour when their first choice was missing does not necessarily prove equal demand for both. Returned units also need a condition decision before they become available stock again.

Use stock cover carefully

For a steadily selling variant, quantity divided by a comparable sales rate gives a rough stock-cover estimate. If six units remain and the recent rate is three per week, that suggests two weeks of cover. It is a planning estimate, not a guarantee.

Do not use this calculation mechanically for a new line, a seasonal product or a variant with many unavailable days. A zero sales rate also does not produce a useful finite cover number. Mark it for review instead of forcing a formula to return a reassuring result.

The Australian Government's inventory guide provides general advice on reviewing stock movements. This variant-level worksheet is an original application; its quantities should come from your own shop.

Further reading: Australian Government: Manage your inventory

Make one order change and inspect the outcome

Choose a line, adjust the mix where possible and set a review date after enough normal trading to learn something. Watch whether the popular variant remains available and whether total leftover stock grows. Do not judge the change only by overall product revenue.

Keep the reason for the order beside it: observed demand, an upcoming event, a deliberate test or a supplier constraint. The next buyer should be able to distinguish an evidence-based quantity from a one-off exception.

If the supplier's fixed mix repeatedly leaves unwanted stock, the decision may be whether to keep the line at all. More careful ordering cannot fully solve a pack structure that does not fit your customers.