Dead stock in a kirana: how to find it, clear it and stop it coming back

Every shop has them. The new biscuit flavour that nobody asked for twice. The large pack of a cleaning liquid that only sells in the small size. The festive gift boxes still sitting in the loft in March.

This is dead stock: goods you paid for that are not turning back into money. This guide shows how to find it, decide what to do with each item, and buy so that less of it builds up.

What counts as dead stock

A practical definition: an item that has stock but no sale in a chosen period.

The period depends on what you sell.

Type of item	A sensible window
Daily FMCG (milk products, bread, snacks)	15 to 30 days
Regular grocery and household goods	60 to 90 days
Slow categories (utensils, stationery, gift items)	90 to 180 days
Seasonal goods	One full season

Dead stock is different from slow-moving stock. A slow item still sells, just rarely. A dead item has not sold at all in the window. Treat them differently.

Why it hurts more than it looks

• Money is locked. Forty items with an average of ₹600 of stock each is ₹24,000 sitting on shelves instead of in your bank or in fast-moving goods.
• Shelf space is wasted. The best eye-level space should hold what sells, not what doesn’t.
• Expiry risk grows. Food, cosmetics and medicines lose value every week they sit.
• The shop looks tired. Dusty, faded packs make customers think the whole shop is stale.

How to find it

With records

If your billing keeps item-wise sales, list every item that has stock above zero and no sale since your chosen date. Add the stock value at cost next to each one, then sort by value. The top of that list is where your money is stuck.

Check the godown too. Many dead items aren’t on the shelf at all. They’re in a carton nobody opened. Keeping godown and display stock separate makes this much easier to see.

Without records

• Walk the shop slowly and look for dust, faded labels and packs that never seem to move.
• Mark them with a small sticker and the date.
• Check again in a month. Anything still marked and untouched goes on your list.
• Look at old purchase bills for items you bought once and never reordered.

Sort the list before you act

Not all dead stock is the same. The cause decides the fix.

Cause	Example	What to do
Close to expiry	Snacks, sauces, cosmetics	Clear first, before anything else
Seasonal	Diwali gift packs, rakhi items, winter creams	Store safely and sell next season, or clear if it won’t last
Wrong size or variant	2 kg pack where locals buy 500 g	Bundle, discount or ask the distributor about exchange
Hidden or misplaced	Cartons in the godown, item behind other goods	Move it to a visible shelf and give it a fair chance
Damaged	Torn, dented or wet packs	Write off with a reason, and learn where the damage happened
Simply not wanted	A brand nobody asks for	Clear at the best price you can get, then don’t reorder

Ways to clear it

Start with the gentle options and move to price cuts only if needed.

1. Move it. Put it at eye level, near the counter or next to the billing area. Sometimes an item is dead only because nobody can see it.
2. Pair it. Place it next to a fast mover that goes with it, like a new chutney next to the bread.
3. Suggest it. Ask your regulars, especially khata customers you know well. A word from the owner sells more than a shelf label.
4. Bundle it. “Buy this, get that at half price” moves both items.
5. Cut the price in steps. Start with a small cut. Go deeper only if it still doesn’t move.
6. Talk to the distributor. Some distributors accept returns or exchanges on unsold or near-expiry stock. Ask what their policy is before you write it off.
7. Move it between your shops. If you have more than one shop, an item dead in one may sell in another. Record it as a stock transfer.

For damaged or expired goods that can’t be sold, write them off as a stock adjustment with a clear reason. Don’t just let the number sit in your records. A stock figure you know is wrong is worse than no figure.

Stop it coming back

Clearing dead stock once is easy. Not buying it again is the real work.

• Buy small the first time. For a new item, take the smallest quantity the distributor allows. Reorder once it proves it sells.
• Be careful with schemes. “Take 12, get 1 free” only helps if you can sell 13. Otherwise it is 12 dead packs with a free one on top.
• Reorder from sales, not from the salesman. Check what actually sold since the last order before you say yes.
• Know your seasons. Write down what was left over after each festival. Next year, buy less of it.
• Watch the variants. Before adding a new size or flavour, ask whether it will take sales from an existing one instead of adding new ones.

A monthly 20-minute review

Once a month, sit with your list and go through these steps.

• Pull the list of items with stock and no sale in the window
• Sort by stock value, highest first
• Mark each item with a cause from the table above
• Pick an action for the top ten
• Note which items you will not reorder
• Check last month’s actions: did they work?

Twenty minutes a month is enough to keep dead stock small.

Where Bazaar IQ fits

Bazaar IQ has a dead-stock report: you choose the window, and it lists the items that have stock but no sale in that period. Because display and storage stock are counted separately, you can also see whether the item is on the shelf or still in the godown. Write-offs go through stock adjustments that need a reason, so your records stay honest. Reports export to Excel or PDF if you want to work through the list on paper.

Whatever you use, the habit is what matters: look at the list every month, act on the top of it, and buy a little more carefully each time. More on stock tracking is on our inventory page and the kirana page.