Using Data Analytics: How Sales Metrics Can Guide Your Wholesale Inventory Decisions
Inventory management means keeping track of everything you have to sell so you don’t run out or have too much. When you look at your sales numbers and use simple charts, you can figure out how many items to order. This helps you spend less money on extra stock and lets you quickly get new items when they become popular. Whether you sell jewelry or anything else, using these numbers will help you make better choices and keep your business running smoothly.
1. Know Your Important Sales Numbers
Before you look at fancy charts, pick the numbers that really matter for your jewelry business. Here are some you can watch:
Sell-Through Rate (STR):
Think of a toy store. If they have 100 toys and sell 20 toys in one week, their sell-through rate is 20%. It tells you how much you sell over time.
Inventory Turnover Ratio:
This shows how many times you sell all your items in a year. If you start with 50 bracelets and sell them all 5 times in a year, your turnover ratio is 5.
Days Sales of Inventory (DSI):
This tells you how many days, on average, an item sits on the shelf before someone buys it. If a necklace stays 30 days before selling, your DSI is 30.
Gross Margin Return on Investment (GMROI):
Imagine you spend $1 on beads and make $1.50 when you sell a bracelet. Your profit is $0.50. GMROI shows you how much profit you get for each dollar you spend on inventory.
Stockouts & Overstocks:
Stockout means you run out of a product.
Overstock means you have too many pieces that don’t sell quickly.
Keeping track helps you know when you need to order more or when you have too much.
By watching these numbers, you can make smart choices based on facts instead of just guessing.
Tracking these metrics lays the foundation for data-driven decisions rather than gut feel.
2. Use Old Sales Numbers to Help You Decide
Look Back at a Year or Two of Sales:
Check how many items you sold each month for at least one year (or two!). This helps you see which months are busy and which are slow.
Example: You might notice you sell a lot of silver pendants around Valentine’s Day and more custom bracelets in the summer for weddings.
Watch New Items Grow:
When you add something brand new—like a fancy gemstone ring—see how long it takes before it makes up 1 out of every 100 items you sell. That tells you if it’s becoming popular or not.
Find Your Best and Slowest Sellers:
The top 20% of your items probably make most of your money.
The other 80% sell slowly.
Order more of the popular 20% so you don’t run out. Order less of the slow sellers so you don’t have too many sitting around.
By doing this, you’ll always know when to order more of each item so you have enough to sell, but you won’t buy so much that you end up with too much stuff.
3. Find the Right Time to Order More with a Little Extra Just in Case
Figure Out How Much You Sell While You Wait
- Think about how many items you sell each day.
- Then think about how many days it takes for new stock to arrive.
- Multiply them:
Daily Sales × Days to Get New Stock = How Much You Need While You Wait
Keep a Small “Just in Case” Pile
- Sometimes things happen—more people buy at once, or delivery is slow.
- To be safe, keep a little extra stock.
- For items you know sell the same amount every day, you might keep 1–5% extra.Like Wholesale Jewelry .
- For brand-new or surprise-hit items, keep a bit more extra.
Add Them Together to Know When to Reorder
- Amount You Need While You Wait + Your Extra “Just in Case” Stock
- When your on-hand stock falls to this number, it’s time to place a new order.
That way, you order just in time—not too early and not too late—and you don’t run out when lots of people buy at once.
4. Use ABC Sorting for Your Stuff
Sp3lit your items into three groups
Group A: The top 10–20% of items that bring in the most money.
Example: Fancy diamond rings that people love to buy.
Group B: The next 20–30% of items that sell okay.
Example: Silver bracelets that sell sometimes.
Group C: The last 50–70% of items that don’t sell as much or are special, like seasonal charms.
Example: Holiday-themed enamel charms.
What to do with each group
Group A: Check these items often and study how they sell.
Group B: Set your computer or system to automatically order more when you’re running low.
Group C: Keep an eye on these less often and only order small amounts.
By doing this, you save money and make it easier to keep track of everything!
5. Make Real‐Time Dashboards
Build easy‐to‐read screens that show:
How Much Stuff We Have
Imagine a traffic light:
- Green means there’s plenty of that item.
- Yellow means we’re getting low and should watch.
- Red means it’s almost gone and we need to order more.
How Fast Things Are Selling
See simple charts that show:
- What sold today
- What sold this week
- What sold this month
This helps us know which items people love right now.
Which Items Make the Most Money
A colorful grid shows our profit for each style and material.
The brighter the color, the more money that item makes.
6. Guessing What We’ll Need with Smart Math
Looking at Old Numbers:
We study past sales, like what sold last month, to guess how much jewelry we’ll sell next time.
Using Extra Clues:
We also pay attention to things like ads, money news, or what people say online about “boho-chic” style. These clues help our guesses be better.
Grouping Similar Items:
We put together jewelry pieces that sell in similar ways and make one big guess for the group. This helps us predict better, even for items that don’t sell fast.
When our guesses are good, we don’t end up with too much jewelry sitting around, and we don’t run out of pieces people want to buy!
7. Keep Getting Better with Your Data
Check Your Predictions
Compare what you thought would happen (your forecast) with what really did happen.
If your guess was off, make your prediction method better next time.
Watch Important Numbers
Look at your “1% rule” again. For example, if a ring design sells less than 1 out of every 100 rings, think about stopping that design.
Add New Information
Include more facts, like how often people return items, who is buying (age or location), or if your Wholesale jewelry suppliers is reliable.
By doing these steps over and over, you make sure your stock choices match what customers like and what’s happening in the market.
Conclusion
These days, just guessing isn’t enough—especially when you sell special things like permanent jewelry. Instead, you can use data, which means looking at numbers about what you sell. Track important sales numbers and make sure you always have enough pieces in stock by adding a little extra as a “safety buffer.” For example, keep 1% more of your best-selling items just in case.
Starting small and paying attention to your numbers will help you make better decisions. Turning raw numbers into smart ideas will keep your jewelry display full and your customers happy—and they’ll keep coming back for more!
