1. Seasonal is not the same as dead
Two kinds of stock move slowly and only one is a problem. Waterproofing before the monsoon, certain fittings around festivals, cold-weather lines — those should sit, because they will move. Stock over-ordered once that has not shifted since is a different thing entirely. The movement report separates them: something that sold last season and not this one reads differently from something that has not moved in two years.
2. What it is actually costing you
The cost is not the purchase price, it is what that money would be doing elsewhere. Capital in dead stock is capital not buying fast-moving lines, not funding credit to a good customer, and possibly being borrowed against at interest. In a trade with a sixty-day credit cycle, cash tied up in unsellable stock is one of the more expensive mistakes available.
3. Find it before it dates
Timing decides how much you recover. A tile design, a paint shade, a toy licence or an accessory for a discontinued vehicle model loses value steadily and then falls off a cliff. Reviewing the movement report quarterly rather than annually is the difference between clearing at cost and clearing at scrap. Set the review as a fixed date rather than an intention.
4. How to actually clear it
Several routes work and most shops try none of them. Bundle slow items with fast ones as a package. Offer them to a contractor or a trade buyer at cost, who will take volume for a discount. Return to the supplier where the terms allow it, which is often possible if you ask before it ages further. And discount visibly in the shop, because a customer who sees the reason accepts the price.
5. Stop creating more of it
Dead stock is an ordering problem showing up months later. The three habits that reduce it: order from movement figures rather than from a supplier's suggestion, be honest about the difference between what you like and what your customers buy, and separate your order into proven repeat lines and a deliberate small allowance for speculation. That last one turns buying from a hunch into a rate you can plan around.
6. Write it off honestly
Stock that genuinely will not sell should come out of your valuation, because carrying it at cost makes your closing figure and your apparent profit both wrong. Recording it as a stock adjustment with the reason gives you an accurate year-end position and a number to look at. A shop that never writes anything off is a shop whose stock value is quietly fictional.