Glossary
Weeks of cover
How many weeks your stock will last at the recent rate of sale: units in stock divided by the average units sold each week.
Formula
Weeks of cover = units in stock ÷ average units sold per week
Worked example
A shirt has 60 units in stock and has sold 15 a week over the last four weeks. It has 60 ÷ 15 = 4 weeks of cover.
In fashion, footwear and sportswear
Read cover against your supplier's lead time, size by size. If a reorder takes six weeks to land and a size has four weeks of cover, it will be out for two.
Where it misleads
Leave out the days a size was out of stock, or the rate of sale falls and cover looks longer than it is. A promotion week inflates the rate and makes cover look shorter.