Clearance merchandise consists of products that have been permanently marked down for quick sale. These items may be handled in several ways:

• Clearance items may be pulled together at the rear of each department. For example, clearance suits may be positioned on one or more fixtures at the rear of the career department.
• Clearance merchandise from all departments may be pulled into one area of the store to form a permanent clearance department. This catch-all clearance department should be positioned in the rear of the store.
• Clearance merchandise in specialty stores may be pulled to the front of the store for traditional major clearance events in January or early July.

Stock turnover is defined as the number of times during a specific period, usually one year, that the inventory on hand is sold. At a time like this a slow stock turn means that cash flow is lying on the shelves. It is not being turned into cash to pay your creditors and is a recipe for going bankrupt quickly.

In addition to cash flow, a high level of stock turnover in a business has several advantages for any retailer:
Merchandise on the shelves is always fresh.
Losses due to changes in styles and fashions are reduced.
Costs associated with maintaining stock, such as interest, insurance, breakage are lessened.
Your store has a limited amount of space. It must always be your objective to get the most profit per square foot out of your valuable space. Slow movers tie up valuable space.

Are you opening a retail shop? One of your important tasks is to design your stock room. Or perhaps you opened your shop but didn’t really give all that much attention to your stock room and now is the time to get your stock room in order

The high cost per square metre of many retail locations makes it tempting to devote almost every centimetre to the sales floor in order to maximise display space. Certainly the area devoted to merchandise display is the most important part of the shop, but few shops could survive without a rest room, unloading area, storage space and an office.

A comfortable and efficient office, stock area and employee break room make for a happy bookkeeping, buying and stockperson staff [even if it’s you!]. Few shops have enough room to make these areas as spacious as they should be. Remodelling money tends to get put first into the parts of the shop where customers can see it.

From a store's perspective, stock management means controlling the stock that is being bought so that customer needs are continually satisfied and maximum profitability is achieved.

Remember:  Merchandise is typically the largest single asset in a retail business and, as such, its productivity is critical when determining a retailer's profitability.

Effective Stock Management is important because:

1) Stock is Money
Stock is money invested and the profitability and financial viability of the retailer depends on the return obtained from that investment.
No stock or the wrong stock means no sales and no income. Since stock is the prime generator of revenue, having the right stock in the right quantities at the right time for the customer is fundamental.

From a store's perspective, stock management means controlling the stock that is being bought so that customer needs are continually satisfied and maximum profitability is achieved.

Remember:  Merchandise is typically the largest single asset in a retail business and, as such, its productivity is a critical determinant of any retailer's profitability.

Effective Stock Management is vitally important because:
Stock is Money
Stock is money invested and the profitability and financial viability of the retailer depends on the return obtained from that investment.
No stock or the wrong stock means no sales and no income.  Since stock is the prime generator of revenue, having the right stock in the right quantities at the right time for the customer is fundamental.