24 Key Retail KPIs To Track in Your Fabric Shop

Written by Brad Tanner | May 1, 2025 1:15:00 PM

Imagine two quilt store owners: Emma and Lily.

When it comes to running their shops, they’re as different as night and day.

Emma loves her quilt store, “Emma’s Cozy Quilts.” She enjoys chatting with customers, arranging colorful fabric displays, and hosting quilting bees — but she’s not too keen on numbers. She believes that as long as her customers are happy, everything else falls into place. So, she doesn’t pay much attention to her store’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

Just down the street is Lily, the owner of “Lily’s Quilted Treasures.” Lily is equally passionate about quilting, but she has a different approach. She loves diving into her store’s KPIs, seeing them as a treasure map leading to success. This is possible with her modern point of sale (POS) system, which gives her easy access to this data.

One afternoon, Emma and Lily meet for coffee. Emma shares stories of her latest quilting project, while Lily excitedly talks about how her team has improved their customer conversion rate by 10% in the last month. Lily explains that she can generate reports from her POS system that allow her to easily track this data and share it with her team.

Inspired by Lily’s enthusiasm, Emma decides to give KPIs a try. She invests in a new POS system for her store and starts small by tracking just a few metrics, like customer footfall and average transaction value. To her surprise, she finds it fun and helpful. The new POS system makes it easy for her to track sales and generate reports.

Now, both Emma’s and Lily’s stores flourish. Emma discovered that a little bit of data goes a long way in making her beloved shop even better. Meanwhile, Lily continues to innovate, using her retail KPIs to keep her store at the cutting edge of quilting trends.

Here’s the moral of the story: Whether you’re a numbers enthusiast or a creative spirit, there’s always a way to sew success into the fabric of your business — and the right POS system gives you the data you need to succeed.

Let’s dive into how you can track KPIs, and which ones are most important to grow your fabric store.

Retail KPIs and What They Mean to Your Fabric Shop

At its core, the concept of tracking retail KPIs in your quilt store is about using data to guide better decisions and improve performance.

Here are some key principles you need to understand:

Performance measurement: KPIs, like tracking sales of a particular fabric line or customer satisfaction with quilting classes, give you a way to measure how well your store is performing in relation to specific goals.
Data-driven decision-making: By analyzing KPIs like popular fabric colors or customer preferences, you can make informed decisions about inventory and marketing strategies, rather than relying on guesswork.
Goal alignment: KPIs ensure that all aspects of your store, from fabric displays to staff training, align with overall business goals including increasing sales or improving customer experience.
Continuous improvement: Regular monitoring of KPIs, such as customer feedback or class attendance, allows you to identify areas for improvement and implement changes to enhance your store’s performance.
Benchmarking and competitive advantage: By measuring KPIs like sales per square foot or customer retention rate, you can benchmark your performance against industry standards and pinpoint where you excel or need improvement.
Resource optimization: Understanding which fabrics, classes, or services are most profitable lets you properly distribute resources and increase your total profit.

Overall, tracking and analyzing KPIs for your retail fabric store helps you maintain a clear view of business performance, drive strategic initiatives, and keep your store competitive and profitable.

The Benefits of Retail KPIs for Your Fabric Shop

Below are lists of important KPIs categorized by focus area: sales, customer, inventory, marketing and engagement, and operational. These metrics give you insights into all parts of your business, so you can make data-driven decisions.

Sales KPIs

The most important sales KPIs to track in your fabric store include:

Total sales revenue: Track the total income from fabric product sales during a specific time period.
Sales per square foot: Measure the revenue generated per square foot of retail space, to help you understand how productive each area of your store is.
Inventory turnover: Monitor how quickly inventory is sold and replenished, which reflects the efficiency of inventory management.
Conversion rate: Track the percentage of visitors who make a purchase to reveal the effectiveness of sales strategies.
Average transaction value: Measure the average amount spent per transaction, highlighting the value of each customer’s purchase.
Sales per employee: Indicate the revenue generated per employee to help assess staff productivity.
Sell-through rate: Measure the percentage of inventory sold within a specific period, which demonstrates inventory performance.
Year-over-year growth: Compare current year sales to previous year sales, showing overall business growth.
Gross profit: Assess the revenue remaining after deducting the cost of goods sold (COGS), reflecting your total profits.
Gross margin return on investment (GMROI): Measure the profitability of inventory sales, which shows you how much value is generated for each dollar invested in inventory.

Keeping track of these KPIs can give you a better understanding of your fabric store’s overall financial health.

Customer KPIs

Here are several ways to track customer KPIs and enhance the overall shopping experience:

Customer footfall: Monitor the number of customers visiting your store using a footfall counter or security camera footage to understand peak shopping times and staffing needs.
Customer retention rate: Use a loyalty program to track how many customers come back to your store to make purchases. This can give you a sense of how well you’re meeting customer needs and preferences.
Customer conversion rate: Track the number of store visitors versus the number who go on to purchase to identify opportunities to improve store layout, product displays, or sales strategies.
Customer satisfaction: Gather input from customers through surveys or feedback forms to measure satisfaction with product selection, service, and their shopping experience.
Net promoter score (NPS): Ask customers how likely they are to recommend your store to others to gauge overall customer loyalty and determine areas for improvement.
Customer acquisition cost: Assess the cost of marketing and advertising campaigns to attract new customers. With this information, you can better understand the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Inventory KPIs

Key inventory metrics to measure in your fabric store include:

Inventory turnover ratio: Track how often inventory is sold and replaced over a given time period. For example, this ratio can show you how many times a year you sell and replace your stock of a particular fabric line.
Stock levels: Monitor minimum and maximum stock levels to ensure optimal inventory. Setting the right stock levels ensures you always have at least 10 yards of each basic quilting fabric on hand.
Shrinkage: Assess inventory loss due to theft, damage, or errors. This can help you notice if you’re missing several yards of fabric not accounted for by sales.
Product returns: Evaluate the percentage of products returned by customers. For instance, this allows you to see how many yards of fabric were returned due to defects or customer dissatisfaction.

Marketing and Engagement KPIs

Examples of marketing and engagement KPIs include:

Customer loyalty program participation: Track the number of customers enrolled in your fabric store’s loyalty program.
Email & SMS campaign performance: Evaluate open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates from email and SMS marketing campaigns promoting new fabric lines or sales.

Operational KPIs

Operational KPIs are metrics used to track and improve the efficiency of your daily business tasks.

Here are a couple:

Employee productivity: Assess sales per employee or tasks completed per hour. For example, you can track how many yards of fabric each employee cuts per hour.
COGS: Monitor the direct costs attributable to the production of the goods sold in your store. Try tracking the cost of purchasing fabric, thread, and other sewing products from suppliers.

These KPIs can give you insights into different aspects of your business, from sales and customer behavior to inventory management and operational efficiency. Regularly reviewing these metrics allows you to make informed decisions and maximize your fabric store’s performance.

Mastering Retail KPIs With Like Sew

Whether you’re an Emma or a Lily, embracing the power of data can transform your fabric store into a thriving business. Like Sew is here to make that journey seamless and enjoyable.

Our all-in-one POS software is designed specifically for fabric stores and offers a range of features designed to help you effectively track retail KPIs.

Here are some of the key features:

Inventory management: Like Sew gives you detailed inventory tracking capabilities, including fractional yardage, which allows you to manage and track fabric inventory down to 1/8 of a yard. This precision helps you maintain optimal stock levels and understand inventory turnover.

Sales & customer insights: Our software includes built-in reports and an online reporting tool that offers a clear view of sales performance, customer behavior, and product popularity. These reports help you understand metrics like sales per square foot, average transaction value, and customer conversion rates.

Customer tracking & loyalty programs: Like Sew has features for tracking customer history and managing loyalty programs. This helps you monitor customer retention rates and understand customer preferences, which are crucial for improving customer satisfaction and increasing repeat business.

Class management: For stores that offer quilting classes, Like Sew’s class management feature allows you to promote and manage sign-ups, giving you insights into class attendance and customer engagement.

Vendor & product management: Our POS system includes vendor catalogs and product management tools that ensure your product listings are accurate and up to date, helping you track product performance and manage vendor relationships effectively.

These features simplify your day-to-day tasks and empower you to make informed, data-driven decisions that align with your business goals.

To learn how Like Sew can support your fabric store, schedule a demo today to discover how our tailored solutions can help you stitch together a successful future.

View full post