Every can on that shelf is the store's money, sitting still.
In this module you'll follow one product, a 4L can of interior broadwall paint, through a year on shelf. You already see its numbers: financials in Krunchbox and inventory in the Vendor App. This module is about what those numbers mean to the store, and how to use them to win and keep space.
The product we'll follow
- Product
- Harbourline Interior Low Sheen, 4L, colour Sea Mist
- Supplier
- Harbourline Paints (fictional)
- Store
- Ridgeway Hardware (fictional)
- Location
- Interior broadwall aisle, 8 bays. Harbourline holds 2.
- History
- 12 months of sales: 1,040 cans
You don't negotiate with buying teams. Your space is won or lost in the store, at the seasonal business review, and the evidence is your sales history. When store leadership looks at that history, they aren't asking "is this good paint?" They're asking three questions:
Each section that follows takes one figure from Krunchbox or the Vendor App and explains which of these questions it answers, what a good or poor result looks like, and what to say about it.
- Before the review, ask yourself the store's three questions about your own range. If you can't answer one, that's the gap to fill.
- Talk in the store's language: profit dollars, stock dollars and bays. Units and "our share" matter to you; the store is weighing return on investment.
All figures in this module are illustrative, in Australian dollars and exclude GST. Real numbers vary from store to store.
Three lines in Krunchbox, three different stories.
Before any other figure makes sense, be clear on what the headline financials in Krunchbox are actually telling the store.
Start with one shift in perspective: your sell price is the store's cost. What Harbourline invoices is what Ridgeway Hardware pays. Every figure the store looks at is built on the gap between that and what its customers pay.
Ridgeway bought 1,200 cans from Harbourline but sold 1,040. The 160-can difference isn't a sale and isn't profit. It's the store's cash still sitting on the shelf, and it shows up in the Vendor App as stock on hand. You'll see why that matters in Sections 4 to 6.
- Lead with gross profit dollars, not net sales. Net sales tells the store how busy your product is. Gross profit dollars tells it how much your product earned.
- Your shipments to the store are not its sales. If you've shipped well ahead of sell-through, expect the store to notice the stock, not the volume.
- Quote Krunchbox figures as they appear: excluding GST, the same way store leadership sees them.
Gross profit: what the store keeps.
Krunchbox shows two gross profit figures for every line: dollars and percent. Together they tell the store how much your product earns and how profitable each sale is.
The two don't always move together. A line can have a modest gross profit % but sell in such volume that it delivers more gross profit dollars than anything else in the aisle. Another can have an impressive percentage and still contribute very little, because it rarely sells. Know both figures for your range, and know where you stand on each against the aisle.
Lead with it, then connect it to volume. A high gross profit % means every sale is worth more to the store. Pair it with gross profit $ so it's clear the percentage is earned on real sales.
Expect the follow-up question: "Does it actually sell?" If your turns are slow, be ready to talk about GMROI (Section 6).
Don't hide it. Change the frame. If your gross profit % is below the aisle, the strongest answer is usually volume and speed: total gross profit $, turns and GMROI.
Explain your role in the aisle. A high-volume, everyday line brings painters into the aisle and keeps them coming back. That traffic is worth something to every brand on the shelf.
- Quote gross profit % and $ exactly as Krunchbox shows them. Store leadership sees the same figures, so working out your own invites a mismatch.
- Open with gross profit $. It's the figure that pays the store's bills.
- Never try to win the review on gross profit % alone. The next three sections show why a high percentage can still be a poor return for the store, and why a low one can be a great return.
The store has $5,460 tied up in your can. On average.
Profit is only half the story. The store also wants to know how much of its cash had to sit on the shelf to earn that profit.
Paint is seasonal. The store builds stock before the spring painting season and runs it down over winter. That's why the dollar average in Krunchbox matters more than a one-day count: a snapshot can make your investment look much bigger or smaller than it really is.
In October, right when spring reviews happen, the store held 165 cans ($6,930). In June it held 100 ($4,200). The average across the year was 130 cans, or $5,460.
- Every can on shelf or out the back is the store's cash, not yours. Excess stock is a cost to the store, not a sign of commitment.
- Spring reviews happen at peak stock. If store leadership is reacting to a full back room, use Krunchbox to show the full-year average.
- If a leaner, well-replenished holding still covers demand, offer it. Lowering the store's investment improves every figure in the next two sections.
How hard is the store's money working?
Stock turns tell the store how often its investment in your product comes back to it as sales. Weeks stock on hand tells it how long the stock it holds will last.
Working out your turns
Turns isn't shown in Krunchbox or the Vendor App, so it's the one figure you'll need to work out yourself. Two ways:
52 ÷ weeks stock on hand
Take weeks stock on hand from Krunchbox. Our can: 52 ÷ 6.5 = 8 turns.
units sold in 12 months ÷ units on hand
Unit sales history from Krunchbox, units on hand from the Vendor App. Our can: 1,040 ÷ 130 = 8 turns.
In a seasonal category, use an average stock level rather than a single day's count. A peak-season count of 165 cans would make our can look like it turns only 6.3 times.
Same sales, different stock holding
The store sells about 20 cans a week, up to 28 a week in peak season. Move the slider to change how much stock it holds and watch what happens to the figures it cares about.
Reading turns in a seasonal category
An annual figure blends peak and off-peak together. Look at a single quarter instead, scaled up to an annual rate so it can be compared, and the same can looks quite different:
| Period | Turns (annual rate) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Spring peak (Oct–Dec) | 8.8× | Selling hard; stock built for the season is working |
| Winter (Jun–Aug) | 6.6× | Normal seasonal slowdown, not a product problem |
| Full year | 8.0× | The fair figure to compare across the aisle |
- Compare like with like: your full-year turns against the aisle's full-year turns, or the same season against the same season.
- If your turns are low, look at stock holding before blaming sales. Overstock from a big pre-season fill is the most common cause, and the easiest to fix.
- Very high turns (two weeks stock on hand or less) can mean gaps on shelf in peak weeks. That's lost sales for both of you, and an argument for off-location space to add capacity.
GMROI: profit earned for every dollar of stock.
Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment brings gross profit and turns together into one figure. It's the closest thing the store has to a single score for how well your product uses its money.
The Multiweek GMROI report shows how GMROI moves across the weeks you select. Look at the trend over a full season, not a single week, so the pre-season stock build doesn't distort the picture.
Gross profit % and turns are two routes to the same place
A product can reach a strong GMROI through a high gross profit %, through fast turns, or a mix of both. Try it:
Find different routes to the same return
Two different products, two winning arguments
Neither profile is automatically better. Each earns its place for different reasons, and you should be able to argue for both.
Premium 4L can: 48% gross profit, 4 turns, GMROI 3.69
Each sale is worth more. At about $46 gross profit per can against $28 for a standard can, it needs fewer sales to earn its place.
It lifts the aisle's average spend. Customers who want a better finish trade up instead of leaving the store to find it.
It stays healthy if stock is lean. Slow lines go wrong when they're overstocked. Keep holding tight and the return holds up.
Our 4L can: 40% gross profit, 8 turns, GMROI 5.33
The store's cash comes back fast. Eight turns means the money in this can is recovered roughly every six and a half weeks.
It earns more per dollar of stock. Its GMROI is about 45% higher than the premium can's.
It drives traffic. It's what painters come in for, and they buy rollers, tape and drop sheets while they're there.
- Bring the Multiweek GMROI report. It's the quickest way to show the store how hard its cash works in your range.
- If your gross profit % is below a competitor's, move the conversation to GMROI. If your turns are slower, move it to gross profit per sale.
- If your GMROI is weak, find out which half is the problem. Gross profit % is hard for you to change in store. Low turns often comes down to overstock, which you can fix.
A bay is the store's scarcest asset.
Stock levels can be adjusted. Bays can't. The aisle is a fixed size, so every bay a range holds is a bay someone else doesn't get. Store leadership judges each bay by what it earns.
How much customer spend each bay generates. Useful, but it favours high-priced and high-volume lines regardless of profit.
How much profit each bay generates. This is what the store gains or loses from each bay. It matters most.
Ridgeway Hardware · interior broadwall aisle
Our 4L can is one product in the Harbourline range. The range as a whole holds bays 1 and 2. Financials come from Krunchbox; bay counts from the Vendor App's bay layout guides.
| Range | Bays | Net sales | Gross profit $ | Net sales / bay | GP / bay | GMROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbourline | 2 | $200,000 | $78,000 | $100,000 | $39,000 | 5.57 |
| Brand B | 3 | $255,000 | $96,900 | $85,000 | $32,300 | 4.04 |
| Brand C | 2 | $150,000 | $63,000 | $75,000 | $31,500 | 3.94 |
| Store brand | 1 | $60,000 | $27,000 | $60,000 | $27,000 | 4.50 |
| Aisle average | 8 | $665,000 | $264,900 | $83,125 | $33,113 | 4.42 |
See the aisle through the store's eyes
Aged inventory: stock that has stopped earning
Aged inventory is stock that has sat in the store far longer than its rate of sale justifies. In paint it's usually a slow colour or size, a discontinued line, or cans stuck in hand stock where customers can't see them.
It matters because it drags down every figure in this module. It ties up the store's cash, pulls down turns and GMROI for your whole range, and occupies facings that faster lines could use. Left long enough, it ends up damaged or cleared at a loss, and store leadership remembers whose stock it was.
Spotting it
Look for SKUs with very high weeks stock on hand and few or no unit sales in recent weeks.
Example: Harbourline 10L, Deep Ochre. 38 weeks stock on hand, 2 sold in the last 8 weeks.
Compare inventory on hand with what you can see on shelf. Units on hand with an empty or thin facing usually means stock stuck in hand stock.
Managing it out
You can't remove a SKU from the range, but you can manage the stock down so it stops costing the store money:
- Total net sales is a competitor's best argument when they hold more bays. Gross profit per bay is yours. Bring both, and explain why the second one matters more.
- Compare your gross profit per bay with the aisle average. If you're above it, your range is earning more than a typical bay, and extra space for it is a low-risk bet for the store.
- Raise aged stock before store leadership does, with a plan to manage it out. It shows you're looking after the store's cash, not just your sales.
It's October. The spring review is tomorrow.
Shelf space is set by the paint buyer, so that's not on the table in store. What you can win is off-location space: promotional space for extra product, such as a pallet stack, an end or a wing. Your goal: a pallet stack of the Harbourline 4L range at the end of the paint aisle through the spring peak. You have time for three points. Pick the three strongest.
Your review pack (last 12 months, from Krunchbox and the Vendor App)
When your numbers are weak
Not every review is a request for more. Sometimes you're protecting your position. Three moves help:
- Build your case around return (GMROI), space (gross profit per bay) and lost opportunity (out-of-stocks). Those three cover every question store leadership asks.
- Spend the conversation on what the store can give you: off-location space, order quantities and how stock is managed. Shelf space belongs to the paint buyer.
- Bring one page, not ten. Three figures and one ask.
- End with a specific request: which location, which SKUs, which weeks.
Knowledge check
Ten real-world situations. Choose what the figure means, or what you'd say. Aim for 8 or more.
Cheat sheet
What each figure tells the store, where to find it, and when to use it.
Net sales
KrunchboxTells the store: how much customers spent on your range.
Use it: to show demand, but never as your main argument.
Gross profit $
KrunchboxTells the store: how much profit your range made.
Use it: as your opening figure.
Gross profit %
KrunchboxTells the store: how many cents of each customer dollar it keeps.
Use it: when high, pair it with volume. When low, move to turns and GMROI.
Inventory $
KrunchboxTells the store: how much of its cash is sitting in your product.
Use it: as a full-year average, not a peak-season snapshot.
Inventory on hand
Vendor AppTells the store: how many units it holds today.
Use it: to spot empty shelves and stock stuck in hand stock.
Weeks stock on hand
KrunchboxTells the store: how long current stock will last.
Use it: two weeks or less in peak season supports a request for off-location space.
Stock turns
Work it out: 52 ÷ weeks stock on handTells the store: how often its money comes back as sales.
Use it: to compare like seasons. Low turns usually means overstock.
GMROI
Krunchbox Multiweek GMROI reportTells the store: gross profit earned for every $1 of stock.
Use it: as your answer to "their gross profit % is higher than yours".
Gross profit per bay
Krunchbox + Vendor App bay layout guideTells the store: what each bay of your range earns.
Use it: against the aisle average, to back a request for off-location space.
Aged inventory
Krunchbox + Vendor AppTells the store: where its cash has stopped working.
Use it: raise it first, with a plan to manage it out.
All figures are illustrative, in AUD and exclude GST.