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Inventory KPI Cheat Sheet

A printable one-page reference of the 10 inventory KPIs every operator should track, with formulas and category benchmarks.

Reviewed by Bhanu Prakash

What's inside

Inventory Turnover: formula and category benchmarks
Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO): conversion to days-of-supply
Sell-Through Rate: 4 to 8 week measurement window
Fill Rate and OTIF: supplier and customer-facing views
ABC Analysis thresholds and policies
Shrinkage and damage rate benchmarks

Why these KPIs matter

Inventory is the largest current asset in most retail businesses. Tracking the right KPIs every week is the difference between a tightly run operation and one that bleeds working capital. This cheat sheet collects the ten metrics that matter most into a single printable page.

How to use this cheat sheet

Print it. Put it on the wall in your buying, planning, or warehouse office. Review the values against your own numbers weekly. Pair it with our free calculators below to monitor each metric in real time.

Related Calculators

Inventory Turnover Calculator

Measure how many times a year your average inventory sells through and gets replaced. The single most consequential operational KPI in retail. It connects buying decisions, warehouse cash, markdown risk, and finance targets into one number. The turn ratio arrives converted into days and weeks of supply, together with the working capital a one-turn improvement would release. Departments that carry stock at retail value rather than cost usually track it with a [retail inventory method tracking template](/templates/retail-inventory-method-template), which produces the same average-inventory figure this calculator needs.

Reorder Point Calculator

Set the trigger level that fires the next PO for an SKU. Reorder point combines expected demand during lead time with a buffer for the weeks that run hot. Get either half wrong and you either stock out or bury cash on the shelf. Outputs are the ROP itself, the lead-time demand behind it, the buffer as a percent of expected demand, and the days of supply that ROP represents at current sales velocity.

EOQ Calculator

Find the order size that minimizes what you spend keeping an SKU stocked. Small orders push order cost up. Big orders push carrying cost up. EOQ finds the point where the two curves cross so you stop paying more than you have to, and it anchors every reorder point and safety stock decision downstream.

ABC Analysis Calculator

Paste a list of SKUs and their revenue and get an instant A / B / C classification. Use the output to set service levels, safety stock, and buying priority the way experienced planners do.

Inventory Turnover Explained: Formula, Benchmarks and How to Actually Move It

How retail operators actually work the turnover ratio. The formula, the cost-versus-sales trap, three what-if scenarios, category benchmarks, the seven levers that move turn, and the guardrails that keep higher turn from becoming lost sales.

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Inventory Management Best Practices: A Modern Operator’s Playbook

Ten inventory management best practices from modern operators, with formulas, benchmarks, and how to actually implement them.

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Reorder Point Formula: The Operator's Guide to When to Reorder

How buyers and DC planners actually set reorder points. The formula, three what-if scenarios, service-level math by ABC class, continuous vs periodic review, and the four mistakes that turn a good ROP into a stockout machine.