The short answer: identify best-sellers and dead products from your sales data, not memory — look at units sold, how fast they sell, and (crucially) the profit they generate. Your true best-sellers are the products that combine good volume with good margin; dead products are those that barely move and tie up cash.
Why gut feel misleads
Owners often misjudge their range. A product you notice selling may not be your best earner; a quiet one might carry a high margin. Only the data tells the truth — which is why decisions on buying and shelf space should start there.
What to look at
- Units sold — volume over a period.
- Sell-through speed — how quickly stock moves (see turnover).
- Profit, not just sales — a high-volume, low-margin item may earn less than a steady, high-margin one (see margin).
- Time since last sale — the marker of dead stock.
Act on what you find
- Do more with best-sellers — keep them in stock, give them space, feature them.
- Cut or clear dead products — free the cash and shelf they occupy.
- Watch the profitable middle — steady earners that quietly pay the bills.
Best-seller ≠ best earner
The key insight: the product that sells most isn’t always the one that earns most. Ranking by profit, not just units, often reshuffles the list — and reshapes what you buy and promote. A hypothetical: your third best-seller by volume might be your number one by profit.
See your real winners and losers
RushFlow ranks products by sales, speed and profit, and flags slow movers — so you know your true best-sellers and dead stock. See the live demo.