Average Items Carried / Average Items Selling (AIC)

Average items carried, or average items selling (AIC), is the average number of distinct items — typically stock-keeping units (SKUs) — that a store carries, or actually sells, within a defined product category across a set of stores. It is an assortment and distribution metric reported by syndicated retail measurement providers such as Nielsen and IRI. "Items carried" counts the distinct items present on the shelf or in the planogram; "items selling" counts the distinct items that actually rang up sales in the period, which is usually a smaller number because some stocked items sell nothing in a given window. Averaging across stores turns a store-by-store assortment picture into a single category read, so a brand or retailer can see how many of a category's items a typical store stocks or moves, rather than reading every store one at a time.

Average items carried matters because distribution is not just about how many stores carry a brand, but how many of the brand's or category's items those stores actually stock and sell. A category can have wide store distribution yet shallow assortment, where the average store carries only a handful of items. AIC captures that depth. It pairs with point-of-sale and distribution data to show whether growth comes from more stores, broader shelf assortment, or faster movement of existing items. Because it distinguishes items carried from items selling, AIC also flags dead assortment — items that occupy shelf space but generate no sales — which is a signal to rationalize the range or fix availability. It is most useful read alongside velocity and all-commodity-volume distribution measures.

The two forms of AIC answer related but different questions. Average items carried measures breadth of assortment on the shelf — how many distinct items the typical store stocks. Average items selling measures how many of those items actually move — distinct items with sales in the period. The gap between them is dead or slow assortment: items that are stocked but not selling. A wide gap suggests over-assortment, poor placement, or availability problems, while a narrow gap suggests the assortment is well matched to demand. Reading both together is more informative than either alone, because carrying many items is only valuable if they sell. AIC is an item-count metric, distinct from share or velocity measures, so it should not be read as a measure of sales — only of assortment depth.

AIC is also distinct from the all-commodity-volume distribution measures it is often reported beside. All-commodity-volume distribution and numeric distribution describe how widely a product is available across stores weighted by store size or counted plainly. AIC, by contrast, describes how many distinct items the average store carries or sells within a category, which is a depth-of-assortment read rather than a breadth-of-availability read. A brand can have high all-commodity-volume distribution (its items are in big stores) yet a low AIC (each store carries only a few of its items), or the reverse. Used together, distribution and AIC separate the question of where a product is sold from the question of how much of the range each store actually stocks and moves.

Average items carried or selling (AIC) — the average number of distinct items a store stocks or sells in a category — is an assortment-depth metric in syndicated retail measurement, distinct from breadth-of-distribution measures.

Etymology: source.

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

View interest-over-time on Google Trends →

Areas of marketing where average items carried / average items selling (aic) is a core concern: