What is dead stock?

Dead stock is inventory that has sat unsold for a long stretch and isn't likely to sell soon without a change in price, placement or plan.

How to spot it in WooCommerce

There's no fixed rule for how long counts as "dead". Many stores pick a window that suits their products, for example 90 days with no sales for everyday goods, or a full season for fashion. WooCommerce has no dead stock report, but you can find candidates with two reports:

1. In Analytics › Products, set the date range to your window (say, the last 90 days) and sort by Items sold. Products with zero or close to zero are your list. Products with no sales at all may not appear, so compare against your full catalog.
2. In Analytics › Stock, check which of those still have units on hand.

A product with stock and no sales in the window is dead stock by your definition. Askshelf's dead stock lookup lists these for any window from 14 to 365 days, with the money tied up in each. A very low sell-through rate or a stock runway of hundreds of days points the same way.

A worked example

Say you have 60 units of a ceramic bowl that cost you $12 each, and none sold in the last 90 days. That's $720 of cash sitting on a shelf, plus the space it takes. Meanwhile your best-selling bowl keeps running out.

Why it matters

Dead stock ties up money you could spend on products that sell, and it often loses value the longer it waits. Common fixes are bundling it with a best seller, a clearance discount, moving it to a more visible spot on the site, or writing it off. The guide on how to find dead stock in WooCommerce goes step by step, and working out your inventory value shows how much cash it represents.