How to Improve Your IPI Score: A Component Playbook | Inventory Hero
·5 min readIPI
How to Improve Your IPI Score: A Component Playbook
Improve your Amazon IPI score by fixing its four inputs: clear excess and stranded stock, raise sell-through, hold in-stock rate. A step-by-step guide.
Open the Inventory Performance dashboard and read the component breakdown; the lowest of sell-through, excess, stranded, and in-stock rate is your biggest drag and best return on effort.
2
Clear stranded inventory
Use the Fix Stranded Inventory tool to relist units with a fixable listing issue and remove those you cannot relist. It is the fastest win because it is usually a listing fix.
3
Clear excess inventory
Identify excess per SKU with days of supply and turnover, then promote, discount, bundle, or remove it to free cash and space and lift the excess component.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I improve my Amazon IPI score fast?
Start with the two fastest wins: fix stranded inventory (relist or remove units sitting with no active listing) and clear excess inventory (promote, discount, or remove overstock). Both directly improve their IPI components and free cash and space. Then work on sell-through and in-stock rate, which move more gradually. Diagnose which component is lowest in your dashboard first, so you fix the biggest drag.
Why is my IPI score dropping?
Because one or more of its inputs got worse: you accumulated excess or stranded inventory, your sell-through slowed, or your in-stock rate fell from stockouts. Amazon's inventory dashboard breaks the score into these components, so check which one dropped. A falling IPI is usually a symptom of holding too much, selling too slowly, or running out, and the fix follows the diagnosis.
T. Brian Jones is co-founder and CTO of Inventory Hero. He leads the engineering behind its Amazon data pipeline, demand forecasting, and the AI platform that lets sellers talk to their live inventory, sales, and supplier data in plain language.
Order closer to real demand, put a deliberate push (deal, price step-down, or ads) behind the worst slow movers, and prune the chronic slow tail.
5
Protect your in-stock rate
Do not over-correct into stockouts; reorder healthy SKUs on time and hold sensible safety stock so clearing excess does not tank the in-stock component.
Can I raise my IPI by removing inventory?
Removing excess and stranded inventory helps, because it fixes those components. But do not over-correct: cutting your stock so lean that you run out lowers your in-stock rate, which is also an IPI input, so it can drop the score. The goal is the healthy middle, enough to stay in stock without carrying excess, not the minimum possible inventory.
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You improve your Amazon IPI score by fixing the four inputs that build it, not by chasing the number itself. The short version: diagnose which component is dragging the score, clear the fastest wins first (stranded and excess inventory), then work on sell-through and in-stock rate, and avoid the trap of over-correcting into stockouts. Below is the component-by-component playbook.
The IPI score is built from sell-through, excess inventory, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate, and Amazon's dashboard shows how you are doing on each. Before acting:
Open the inventory performance dashboard and read the component breakdown.
Find the lowest one. That is your biggest drag and your best return on effort.
Fix that first, then re-check, because improving one component can shift the whole score.
Working the lowest component first is the difference between a targeted fix and busywork.
Stranded inventory, units in a fulfillment center with no active sellable listing, is pure waste: it cannot sell, and it drags the score. It is also usually the quickest to fix:
Pull the stranded inventory report and work the list.
Relist or fix the listing where the issue is a suppressed or inactive listing.
Remove or dispose of units that cannot be relisted, to stop the ongoing cost.
Because stranded inventory contributes nothing and is often just a listing fix away, clearing it is the highest-return first move. See stranded inventory for the full process.
Excess inventory, more stock than current demand justifies, ties up cash and space and drags its own component:
Identify the excess per SKU using days of supply and turnover. For example, 90 days of cover on a SKU with a 30-day lead time is roughly 60 excess days; a removal order for that overage brings cover toward 45 days and lifts the excess component in the next window.
Move it: run a promotion, lower the price, bundle, or use outlet and liquidation channels.
Remove true dead stock rather than paying storage on it indefinitely.
Clearing excess raises the score and frees the cash to reorder your winners. See excess inventory for how to size and clear it.
Sell-through, how fast your inventory moves relative to how much you hold, is a slower lever but a durable one:
Order closer to real demand so you are not carrying more than you can turn.
Accelerate the slow stock deliberately. Run a lightning deal or step the price down to clear aging units, or put ads behind a slow SKU to lift its velocity; a one-time push on the worst offenders moves the blended sell-through faster than waiting.
Prune the slow tail of SKUs that chronically drag your blended sell-through; some are better cleared than carried.
Sell-through improves gradually as your ordering discipline improves, so treat it as an ongoing habit rather than a one-time fix.
Set expectations before you start, because IPI is not a switch. It moves over a trailing window, so:
Stranded and excess fixes typically register within about 2 to 4 weeks, as the improved components feed into the rolling score.
Sell-through gains are slower, on the order of 6 to 12 weeks, since they depend on sustained faster movement, not a one-time cleanup.
The direction turns before the level does. You will usually see the trend improve first, then the score follow, so judge progress by the slope, not a single reading.
If you have a hard deadline (a Q4 build, a capacity review), plan on the stranded and excess wins landing in time and treat sell-through as a longer project. Do not count on a sell-through fix to rescue a score before a near-term deadline.
If you are already capped and need room now, the removal and clearance actions do double duty: they free physical capacity immediately even while the score is still catching up.
A few ways sellers make IPI worse while trying to fix it:
Chasing the number instead of the components. Without diagnosing, you fix the wrong thing. Always start from the dashboard breakdown.
Over-correcting into stockouts. Slashing inventory to lift the excess component tanks the in-stock component. Aim for the middle.
Ignoring the slow tail. A handful of chronically slow SKUs quietly drag your blended sell-through; prune or clear them rather than carrying them forever.
Treating it as one-time. IPI reflects ongoing health, so a single cleanup fades if the ordering discipline behind it does not stick.
Improving your IPI score is a matter of fixing its inputs in the right order: diagnose the lowest component, clear stranded and excess inventory for the fast wins, build sell-through over time, and protect your in-stock rate so you do not trade one problem for another. Because the score reflects real inventory health, fixing the health is the only durable way to raise it, and it keeps your capacity ample as a bonus. When a low score has already tightened your capacity, see Amazon restock limits for how to prioritize what you send in; for what the score is and why it matters, the Amazon IPI score.