Consignment Store KPI's: 8 Essential Metrics and How to Get Them
Kent Atkinson
Mar 14, 2025
The Metrics Every Consignment Store Should Track (And How to Get Them)
Running a successful consignment store isn't just about finding the right inventory; it's about understanding the numbers that drive profitability. Without tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), you could be missing opportunities to optimize sales, pricing, and customer retention. Knowing how to analyze and improve these metrics is the difference between struggling to break even and running a thriving business.
In this guide, we’ll take an in-depth look at the most important consignment store metrics, why they matter, how to calculate them, and the best ways to track them using ConsignCloud and other tools. By the end, you’ll have actionable insights to refine your business strategies and increase your store’s profitability.
These are the essential consignment store metrics we will look at:
Sales Conversion Rate – Measuring and improving customer purchases.
Inventory Turnover Rate – Understanding how often inventory is sold and replenished.
Sell-Through Rate – Evaluating the percentage of inventory sold over time.
Number of Active Consignors – Tracking supplier relationships and inventory sources.
Average Order Value (AOV) – Increasing revenue per transaction.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – Managing marketing expenses effectively.
Repeat Customer Rate – Enhancing customer retention and loyalty.
Gross Profit Margin – Maximizing profitability through pricing and cost control.
1. Sales Conversion Rate
What It Is
Sales Conversion Rate is the percentage of visitors to your store who actually make a purchase. It helps measure how effective your store is at turning browsing customers into paying ones. If people are walking in but leaving empty-handed, your store might have issues with layout, pricing, or customer engagement.
Why It Matters
A high conversion rate means your store is effectively persuading visitors to buy. A low conversion rate, on the other hand, suggests potential issues like poor product presentation, an uninviting atmosphere, or untrained staff. For online consignment stores, a low conversion rate could be due to a complicated checkout process, unclear pricing, or ineffective product descriptions.
Brick-and-mortar stores typically have a 20-40% conversion rate, while online stores range between 2-5%. If your numbers fall below this, it may be time to reconsider your sales approach, customer service strategies, and store organization.
How to Get It
People Counter: First, you need to count the number of people entering your store. This can be done manually (with a hand-held clicker), but it is such an impractical option it is perhaps not work trying. Most stores should go with an automatic tracking option. These tools have an extreme range of capabilities and price; we recommend that most stores go with an infrared beam counter that is battery-powered. Here is a budget-friendly, but positively reviewed infrared beam counter.
ConsignCloud: Once you know the number of people who have entered your store, you can check this with your sales data, so find the number of sales you had for the timeframe you are looking at. In ConsignCloud, you can go to Sales Summary Report and look at the number of sales.
Alternative Method: If you do not have ConsignCloud, see if your POS has a number of sales metric. Otherwise, you will have to track sales manually in a spreadsheet.
Formula: Sales Conversion Rate = (Total Sales / Total Visitors) × 100
Example: If you had 1,000 store visitors and 250 purchases, your conversion rate would be: (250 / 1000) × 100 = 25%
How to Improve
Better Store Layout: Ensure high-demand items are easily accessible. Create a logical flow from entrance to checkout.
Engaged Staff: Train employees to greet customers warmly and assist without being pushy.
Limited-Time Discounts: Offer time-sensitive promotions to encourage immediate purchases.
Clear Pricing & Signage: Clearly display prices and deals so customers don’t have to ask.
When to Track
Weekly & Monthly: We recommend tracking this weekly and monthly. Frequent tracking helps spot trends and test new strategies.
2. Inventory Turnover Rate
What It Is
This is one of the most important metrics you should track. Inventory Turnover Rate measures how often inventory is sold and replaced within a given period. It tells you how well you’re moving products and keeping stock fresh.
Why It Matters
The key to a successful consignment store is maintaining an optimal inventory turnover rate of 4-6 times per year. If your turnover rate is too low, your store may be overstocked with items that aren’t selling, leading to higher holding costs and outdated merchandise. If it's too high, you might be underpricing your items, meaning you’re leaving money on the table.
The goal is to balance a high turnover rate while maintaining strong profit margins. Regular markdowns, seasonal inventory shifts, and strategic sourcing help ensure a steady inventory flow without oversaturating the store with unsold goods.
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: The Inventory Insights Report provides customers with a general inventory turnover rate for the school as well as the ability to track inventory turnover rate by a number of different metrics (see screenshot below or checkout the Inventory Insights report).
Alternative Method: Use POS systems or manually track stock changes in a spreadsheet to calculate the turnover rate.
Formula: Inventory Turnover Rate = Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory Value
Example: If COGS for the year is $50,000, and the average inventory value is $10,000, the turnover rate is: 50,000 / 10,000 = 5 times per year.
How to Improve
Better Intake & Curation: Be selective about what you accept—high-demand items move faster.
Strategic Markdown Schedule: Discount slow-moving items before they become stale.
Rotate Inventory Displays: Regularly rearrange displays so returning customers see “new” items.
Themed Sales Events: Host seasonal clearance or flash sales to move inventory quickly.
When to Track
Weekly & Monthly: Frequent tracking helps spot trends and test new strategies.
3. Sell-Through Rate
What It Is
Sell-through rate is similar to turnover rate, but slightly different. Sell-through rate is the percentage of inventory that is sold over a specific period. Basically, if you have 10 pairs of Gap jeans and you sell 8, you have an 80% sell through rate. It provides insight into how effectively you are selling your stock. Unlike inventory turnover, which measures how often you replenish stock, sell-through rate focuses on what percentage of items actually leave your store.
Why It Matters
A high sell-through rate (60-70% is ideal) means your store is efficiently selecting and pricing items. If your sell-through rate is too low, it could mean that you are overpricing, stocking items that don’t match customer preferences, or failing to promote slow-moving inventory. Here is a breakdown of when to examine turn-over rate versus sell-through rate:
Turnover Ratio is great for big-picture business decisions:
“How efficiently am I selling and replenishing inventory?”
“Are certain brands/categories selling faster than others?”
“Do I have too much or too little inventory on hand?”
Sell-Through Rate is better for short-term and micro-level decisions:
“Which items need to be discounted or promoted?”
“Is a specific brand selling quickly relative to what I received?”
“Should I restock this item sooner or wait?”
Markdown strategies, better display techniques, and targeted promotions can help increase the sell-through rate. If your store consistently struggles with low sell-through, reevaluating sourcing and pricing strategies is essential.
Frankly, If you're a small to medium consignment business and already tracking inventory turnover closely, you may not need to track sell-through rates separately. We mention this metric in case stores to want to find their sell-through rate.
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: To get this data, there are a few technical steps involved. You will need to generate, export, and compare two different reports. Here are the steps:.
Go to the Data explorer. Create report 1 - Variant: item, Bucket: brand (or whatever metric you would like to see sell-through rates for), Aggregate: count. Export this report. Now create report 2 - Variant: item sale, Bucket: brand (or match whichever metric you have chosen in the previous report), Aggregate: quantity sum. Export this report.
You will need to combine these two reports using a VLOOKUP in either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.
Take the number of sales for brand, divide it by the quantity of items (count), multiply it by 100, and you have your sell-through rate.
Alternative Method: See if your POS can give you a sell-through rate. Otherwise, this data will need to be calculated manually.
Formula: Sell-Through Rate = (Units Sold / Beginning Inventory) × 100
Example: If you started with 500 items and sold 350, the sell-through rate would be: (350 / 500) × 100 = 70%
How to Improve
Limit Consignment Duration: Require consignors to retrieve unsold items after 60-90 days to keep inventory fresh.
Bundle & Upsell: Offer small discounts for purchasing multiple items together.
Highlight Bestsellers: Showcase high-demand items in prominent store areas.
Leverage Social Media: Post “just in” items on Instagram or Facebook to drive foot traffic.
When to Track
Weekly & Monthly: Frequent tracking helps spot trends and test new strategies.
4. Number of Active Consignors or Sellers
What It Is
The number of active consignors refers to how many individuals or businesses are supplying inventory to your store on a somewhat regular basis. This metric is essential in understanding the breadth of your supplier network and how diversified your inventory sources are. It is an extremely important metric and can be difficult to notice without performing a regular analysis.
Why It Matters
Tracking the number of consignors is crucial because it impacts the variety and volume of inventory available for sale. A higher number of active consignors means a broader selection of products and a reduced risk of inventory shortages. However, managing too many consignors can also become challenging if not tracked properly. as a viable consigning location.
Industry benchmarks suggest that small consignment stores typically work with 100-300 active consignors, while larger or high-end stores may have 500+ consignors contributing regularly. If the number of active consignors drops, it may indicate dissatisfaction with payout rates, slow inventory movement, or competition from other stores.
We define active vs. inactive consignors depending on the type of inventory your store sells. Here are some benchmarks:
High-Turnover Store (Fast Fashion, Accessories, Small Goods)
Active: 3-6 months since last consignment drop-off or sale
Inactive: 6+ months without engagement
Mid-Turnover Store (General Apparel, Home Goods, Seasonal Items)
Active: 6-12 months since last consignment drop-off or sale
Inactive: 12+ months without engagement
Low-Turnover Store (Luxury Goods, Furniture, Collectibles)
Active: 12-18 months since last consignment drop-off or sale
Inactive 18+ months without engagement
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: Go the accounts table. Create a filter and filter for Last Activity for Before and then put your given time. Additionally, if you want to if you lost consignors in a given time frame, you can add an additional Created filter to see consignors created within a timeframe. You can save these filtered views in order to return to them easily.
Alternative Method: Use CRM or manual tracking to monitor consignor agreements and participation.
How to Improve
Follow these five essential practices to retain your consignors
Strengthen relationships with consignors by offering fair payout terms and transparent sales tracking.
Improve communication by keeping consignors informed about their sales and upcoming inventory needs.
Create incentives for consignors, such as higher payout rates for high-performing sellers.
Streamline the intake process to make it easy for new consignors to join.
When to Track
Quarterly & Yearly: Helps identify trends in consignor retention and acquisition.
5. Average Order Value (AOV)
What It Is
Average Order Value (AOV) measures the average amount a customer spends per transaction. This is crucial for maximizing revenue without increasing the number of customers.
Why It Matters
A higher AOV means more revenue per sale, reducing the need to attract new customers constantly. Strategies like bundling, upselling, and offering incentives for larger purchases help increase AOV; you may also need to consider how you are accepting and pricing your consignment inventory.
Online consignment stores typically have an AOV between $50-$100. If your AOV is lower, consider adding product recommendations, discounts for bulk purchases, or exclusive offers for larger transactions.
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: Go to the Inventory Insights reports and you can see the AOV listed as Average Ticket.
Alternative Method: Use POS sales data to track total revenue divided by the number of transactions.
Formula: Average Order Value = Total Revenue / Number of Orders
Example: If you generated $25,000 from 500 transactions, AOV would be: 25,000/500=50
How to Improve
Encourage Bundled Purchases: Offer “buy one, get one 50% off” deals.
Train Staff for Upselling: Teach employees to suggest complementary items.
Loyalty Perks for Higher Spending: Give small discounts or future coupons for orders over a certain amount.
Impulse Buy Displays: Place small, low-cost add-ons near checkout (jewelry, scarves, candles).
When to Track
Weekly & Monthly: Frequent tracking helps spot trends and test new strategies.
6. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
What It Is
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) refers to the total expense required to attract a new customer. It includes all marketing, advertising, and outreach efforts that lead to a sale. This metric is crucial because it helps determine whether your marketing strategies are cost-effective and sustainable.
Why It Matters
If your CAC is too high relative to your Average Order Value (AOV) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), you may be spending too much to attract customers who aren’t providing enough return on investment. Understanding CAC ensures that marketing dollars—whether that is social media marketing or enhancing your store-front display—are used efficiently, helping maximize profits; whether
For online consignment stores, an effective CAC typically ranges from $20 to $50 per new customer. However, this figure can vary based on the type of products sold, the competitiveness of the market, and the effectiveness of marketing efforts. For physical consignment stores, CAC can be lower, as organic foot traffic and word-of-mouth referrals play a larger role.
Industry Standards for Marketing Spend
A good rule of thumb is that marketing costs for consignment stores should be between 5-15% of total revenue. However, this varies depending on business size and growth stage:
Small consignment stores: 5-10% of revenue allocated to marketing.
Growing stores: 10-15% if focused on aggressive expansion.
Established stores: 5-7% to maintain steady customer flow.
Additionally, CAC should ideally be no more than 25-30% of AOV, ensuring that each customer brings in more value than it costs to acquire them. If a store's AOV is $50 and CAC is consistently above $15, it may be spending too much on marketing relative to sales revenue.
How to Get It
Marketing Costs: The formula is to divide your marketing costs by the number of new customers acquired. ConsignCloud has no internal tools that can help calculate your stores marketing costs so you will need to pull that expense from whatever tool(s) you use for marketing.
ConsignCloud: For understanding your number of new customers, this will have to start at your POS. With each new sale, record the customer's information. You can add your consignment store customers to each sale using ConsignCloud's POS; simply Add Customer to each sale. Then, you can view your new customers acquired by going to the Accounts Table, viewing customers, and then filtering your results for customers created in selected time frame.
Alternative Method: See if you can track new customers in your POS. Otherwise, you will need to track customers manually in a spreadsheet.
Formula: Customer Acquisition Cost = Total Marketing Costs / Number of New Customers Acquired
Example: If you spent $1,500 on ads and gained 50 new customers, CAC would be: 1,500 / 50 = 30
How to Improve
Leverage Organic Marketing: Build a strong social media presence through engaging content rather than paid ads. Use Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to showcase new inventory and special promotions.
Encourage Word-of-Mouth Referrals: Offer discounts or store credit to customers who refer friends.
Improve Website SEO: For online consignment stores, focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to rank higher in Google search results, bringing in free organic traffic.
Email Marketing & Retargeting Ads: Engage past visitors with reminder emails and retargeted ads to convert them at a lower cost.
Loyalty Programs: Encourage repeat purchases through rewards programs, which reduce the need to acquire new customers as frequently.
When to Track
Monthly & Annually: Frequent tracking ensures marketing spending aligns with profitability goals.
7. Repeat Customer Rate
What It Is
The Repeat Customer Rate measures the percentage of customers who return to make additional purchases. It is an essential indicator of customer loyalty and satisfaction, showing how well your store retains customers over time.
Why It Matters
Acquiring new customers is significantly more expensive than retaining existing ones. Research shows that repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers. A high repeat customer rate means your store is building long-term relationships, increasing customer lifetime value (CLV), and lowering the reliance on expensive marketing efforts to bring in new customers.
Most consignment stores should aim for a repeat customer rate of 45% or higher. If your store falls below this, it may indicate issues with pricing, inventory quality, or customer experience.
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: To see if your consignment store customers have made repeat purchases, you will create a report using the Data Explorer. Variant: transaction, Bucket: customer name, Aggregate: count. You may also want to create a date-range for these purchases. Use the Filter: created and select the before and/or after dates. Formula: (Returning Customers / Total Customers) x 100
Alternative Method: see if your POS can track customer purchases. Otherwise, you will have to keep track of sales manually in a spreadsheet.
How to Improve
Loyalty Programs: Offer rewards, discounts, or exclusive deals for repeat customers.
Personalized Marketing: Use email and SMS campaigns to send personalized promotions based on past purchases.
Superior Customer Service: Train staff to build relationships with customers and provide a high-quality experience.
Exclusive Inventory Access: Give repeat customers early access to new arrivals or special sales.
Engage on Social Media: Keep customers involved by showcasing new arrivals, behind-the-scenes content, and engaging polls or Q&As.
When to Track
Monthly & Annually: Helps identify trends and measure customer retention over time.
8. Gross Profit Margin
What It Is
Gross Profit Margin represents the percentage of sales revenue that remains after covering the cost of goods sold (COGS). This metric is crucial for understanding how much profit you are making on each sale. Increasing your profits will help you cover the essential costs of running a consignment store.
Why It Matters
A healthy gross profit margin for consignment stores falls between 30-50%. If your margin is too low, it may indicate that you’re offering consignors too high of a revenue split, not pricing items high enough, or facing high operational costs. On the flip side, if your margin is too high, it may mean you’re overpricing, which can lead to slow-moving inventory and lower sales volume.
Strategic pricing, negotiating better consignor agreements, and reducing operational expenses help improve this metric.
How to Get It
ConsignCloud: The Sales Summary Report provides you with a Gross Profit Margin
Alternative Method: Calculate manually using accounting software by subtracting COGS from total revenue and dividing by total revenue.
Formula: Gross Profit Margin = (Revenue − COGS / Revenue) × 100
Example: If your store made $100,000 in revenue and COGS was $40,000, your gross margin would be: (100,000 − 40,000100,000) × 100 = 60%
How to Improve
Negotiate Better Consignment Splits: Try to increase your percentage without discouraging consignors.
Increase Prices Strategically: Price rare or in-demand items slightly higher.
Reduce Discounting: Only discount items that have been sitting for a long time.
Introduce Low-Cost, High-Margin Items: Sell accessories (jewelry, handbags) with higher markups.
When to Track
Weekly & Monthly: Frequent tracking helps spot trends and test new strategies.
Take Your Consignment Store to the Next Level
Tracking key metrics is essential for running a profitable consignment store. By regularly analyzing sales performance, inventory flow, customer behavior, and profitability, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize operations. ConsignCloud makes tracking KPIs easy, so you can make data-driven decisions. Start a free trial today or explore our resources to learn more!
