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Card class: Non-HeroCategory: Ecommerce Platform
COGS divided by average inventory value. Below 2x annualised signals slow-moving stock.

At a glance

Annualised inventory turnover ratio: COGS ÷ average inventory value. Below 2x signals slow-moving stock; above 8x signals stockout risk.
What it counts(COGS for trailing 90 days × 4) ÷ Avg(Inventory Value, 90D). Annualised so the number reads “turns per year”.
Tax treatmentn/a.
CurrencyOneWorld: reporting currency.
Subsidiary scopeRespects dashboard filter.
Time window90D (rolling)
Alert trigger<2 for stocked-products, sentiment inv_turnover
Rolesowner, finance

Calculation

Calculated automatically from your NetSuite data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

A US wholesale apparel distributor on NetSuite. 90-day window 14 Jan 26 to 12 Apr 26.
ComponentValue (USD)
90-day COGS$14,400,000
Annualised COGS (×4)$57,600,000
Avg Inventory Value (90D)$28,200,000
Inventory Turnover (this card)2.04x per year
Five things to notice:
  1. 2.04x is below the alert threshold of 2.0x? Right at the line. Within a tick of firing.
  2. 2x means inventory turns once every 6 months on average. For wholesale apparel, healthy is 4-6x (8-12 weeks). 2x = stagnation.
  3. The remediation is to reduce inventory (faster), not increase sales (slower lever). Liquidate dead stock, tighten reorder discipline.
  4. Per-SKU turnover varies wildly. Bestsellers turn 12-20x; long-tail SKUs turn 0.5-1x. The headline averages them. Drill via Margin by SKU and Top SKUs Value to find the slow-movers.
  5. Industry benchmarks vary widely. Apparel 4-6x, electronics 6-10x, food <30 days = 12+x, slow-moving capital goods 1-2x.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it with Inventory Turnover
Total Inventory ValueThe denominator.
COGS TotalThe numerator.
Inventory AgingOld stock drags turnover.
Dead Stock ValueWorst offenders.
Inventory Carrying CostThe financial impact of slow turnover.
Margin by SKUSlow + low-margin = liquidate.

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in NetSuite: NetSuite does not surface Inventory Turnover natively. The card derives from COGS (Income Statement) and Inventory Valuation (Balance Sheet). Most accounts compute on demand. Why our number may legitimately differ:
ReasonDirectionWhy
Window choiceEitherSome Controllers use 12-month rolling; card uses 90D × 4 annualisation. The 12-month is smoother but slower to react.
Average inventory methodEitherBeginning + ending ÷ 2 vs daily-average. Card uses daily-average for accuracy.
Subsidiary scopeEither
Cross-connector reconciliation: No commerce-platform counterpart.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Healthy benchmark by industry? Apparel: 4-6x. Electronics: 6-10x. Food: 12-26x. Industrial: 2-4x. Slow-moving capital goods: 1-2x. Why is mine so low? Three usual: (1) over-stocking on bestsellers (good problem); (2) accumulation of dead stock (bad); (3) demand drop. Drill into Aging and Dead Stock to attribute. Should I optimise for higher turnover always? No. Higher turnover risks stock-outs. The right turnover balances availability vs cost-of-capital. Multi-currency, FX impact? Both numerator and denominator in reporting currency, so FX effects cancel. Single-subsidiary vs OneWorld? Identical formula. Subscription / SaaS-adjacent? Less relevant; physical inventory metric. 90-day vs 12-month? 90D more responsive, 12M smoother. Both have merit; card defaults to 90D × 4 annualisation. Toggleable.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Inventory Turnover Ratio is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across NetSuite and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.