Meaning & use
sales turnover
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablebusinessfinance
The total amount of money a company receives from selling goods or services during a particular period, before costs are taken away.
Grammar: Used with figures and periods: annual turnover, turnover of $2 million; it can be uncountable when you talk about the idea in general.
Patterns
- sales turnover of + amount
- annual/monthly sales turnover
- a rise/fall in sales turnover
- generate sales turnover
The supermarket chain reported sales turnover of $4.2 billion last year.
A fall in sales turnover forced the owners to close two stores.
Our sales turnover grew by 12 percent after we started selling online.
noununcountablebusiness
The rate at which a company replaces its employees or its stock because people leave or goods are sold.
Grammar: Usually uncountable and often used with high or low: high staff turnover, low stock turnover.
Patterns
- high/low staff turnover
- employee turnover
- stock turnover
High staff turnover means the team is constantly training new people.
The store keeps prices low to encourage faster stock turnover.
noununcountablebusinessspecialist
The number of times goods are sold and replaced in a shop or warehouse over a period.
Grammar: Common in retail and accounting contexts, often with fast, slow, or quick.
Patterns
- fast turnover of stock
- slow turnover
- inventory turnover
Fresh fruit has a fast turnover, so we order it every morning.
Inventory turnover improved once the warehouse switched to smaller weekly deliveries.
Word forms
| plural | sales turnovers |
|---|
Common combinations
- annual sales turnover
- Their annual sales turnover passed one million dollars for the first time.
- a drop in sales turnover
- The bad weather caused a drop in sales turnover at garden centers.
- high staff turnover
- High staff turnover is a sign that employees are unhappy.
- sales turnover figures
- The sales turnover figures are published in the company's yearly report.
- boost sales turnover
- A clever advertising campaign can boost sales turnover quickly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- revenue
- Revenue is the money coming in from sales, but it is often used for total income including other sources, while sales turnover usually refers specifically to sales.
- income
- Income is a general word for money received; it can apply to a person or a company, whereas sales turnover is a business measure of sales.
- takings
- Takings is an informal British word for the money a shop or event receives, usually over a short period; sales turnover is more formal and often covers a longer period.
Word family
Commonly confused: sales turnover or profit? sales turnover or earnings?
sales turnover vs profit
Profit is what remains after costs are subtracted, while sales turnover is the total money taken in before costs. A business can have high turnover and no profit.
sales turnover vs earnings
Earnings usually means profit or the money a person or company actually keeps, not the total sales figure.
Practice
A company's sales turnover is best described as:
Choose one answer.
Sales turnover is the total money received from sales during a period, before costs are deducted. Option 0 describes profit, option 2 describes hiring, and option 3 describes remaining stock.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sales turnover”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.