Lab note: our put-back rate was wrong, and why
Lab note, 8 Oct 2026: our dashboard showed 69% put back on a test shoe table where every shoe came back. Four counting errors, fixed and re-measured.
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- Put-back rate guide
What is put-back rate, and how do you read it?
The share of pickups that go back to the shelf is one of the few signals about the shoppers who did not take the product. How it is calculated, how to read it, and the mistakes to avoid.
Definition
Put-back rate is the share of pickups that end with the product going back to the shelf: put-backs divided by pickups, for a product, colour, zone or store over a period. A product picked up 200 times and put back 150 times has a put-back rate of 75%.
Why it matters
Sales data counts the products that left the store. The put-back rate counts the ones that were considered and returned: interest that did not turn into a decision at the shelf. It shows where to look; it does not say why.
Read it with the other signals: how often a product is picked up, how long it is held and what it is compared with.
How to read it
| Pattern | What it can suggest | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Many pickups, high put-back rate | Interest, but something stops the decision once the product is in hand | The price label, sizes on the shelf, the product seen up close, its content on a nearby screen |
| Many pickups, low put-back rate | The product usually leaves the shelf with the shopper | Stock and replenishment |
| Few pickups | Low visibility or low appeal: a never-touched candidate | Placement, facing and lighting; test a move |
| Long hold, then put back | The shopper weighed it seriously | What it was compared with, and which product was kept |
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing very different products. A coat and a pair of socks are handled differently. Compare a product with itself over time, and with similar products in the same store and zone.
- Reading small numbers. Three put-backs out of four pickups is not a pattern. Wait until a product has enough pickups.
- Ignoring colour. One model's rate can hide a colour that is picked up and returned far more often than the others.
- Treating it as lost sales. A put-back is not a lost sale: the shopper may take another colour or size, or buy later. To relate the two, join the exports with your sales data.
- Changing two things at once. If a product moves and its price changes in the same week, you cannot tell which one changed the rate.
How GoTrack measures it
GoTrack uses its cameras to record each pickup and whether the product goes back to the shelf, per product, colour, zone and store. Nothing is fitted to the products. The put-back rate sits in the reports and exports next to pickups, hold time, products compared together and never-touched products.
To size what put-backs could be worth in your stores, try the put-back calculator. Terms are defined in the glossary.
Questions
What is a good put-back rate?
There is no universal benchmark: it depends on the category, the price and the store. The useful comparisons are a product against itself over time, and against similar products in the same store and zone. GoTrack reports the rate per product, colour, zone and store so those comparisons are possible.
Can GoTrack tell marketing which products are examined, and for how long?
Yes. It reports pickups per product and variant, average hold time, put-back rate, products compared together and never-touched products. It measures how long a product is held, not how long someone stands in front of it.
Can GoTrack show whether sales went up?
Not on its own. GoTrack measures what happens at the shelf — pickups, hold time and put-backs — and does not read POS data. To relate interest to sales, join GoTrack's CSV exports or webhook events with your own sales data.
Can we test a new product placement with GoTrack?
Yes, as a before-and-after comparison: move a product to a new shelf zone or fixture and compare its pickups, hold time and put-backs with the period before. GoTrack shows the change; it does not run statistical tests for you.
Further reading
See put-back rates for products like yours.
We will show you the reports on your own kind of products.
or write to info@gotonom.com