What is sell-through rate and how do I calculate it for my boutique?

Sell-through rate tells you how well your buying instinct matched what your customers actually wanted. If you bought 100 units of dresses and sold 70, your sell-through rate is 70 percent. It matters more than total sales dollars because it reveals whether your buying decisions were accurate, not just whether money came in.

To calculate it, export your sales-by-product report from Shopify or Square for the last 90 days, then export your current product list with on-hand quantities. Group everything by category — dresses, tops, denim, accessories — and divide total units sold by starting stock for each category.

Once you have the numbers, color-code them: green for 60 percent and above, yellow for 40 to 59 percent, and red for below 30 percent. Green categories deserve more budget at market. Red categories should be shrunk or skipped entirely, no matter how tempting they look at the booth. This single metric is the most honest signal your store can give you about what belongs in your next order.