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New product hit rate

New product hit rate is the share of newly added products that sell at least once within a set period after launch.

How it works

Take the products added in one period, such as a quarter, and count how many sold at least once within a fixed window after launch. The window sets the number: the same products give one rate after three months and a higher one after a year. So compare a rate only with one measured the same way, usually your own previous quarter.

In GetProfit data for June 2025 – June 2026, 4.0% of new products sold within three months if their category already had sales (28,172 of 696,921). In categories with no earlier sales, the rate was 3.5% (2,243 of 63,921). Store by store, categories with earlier sales did better in only 51 of 83 stores. How many new products sell explains what this means for a launch budget.

Formula

Products that sold at least once within N months of launch ÷ products launched in the period

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop added 200 products in the first quarter. Three months after launch, 10 had sold at least once: 10 ÷ 200 = 5%. A year after launch, 24 of the same 200 had sold: 24 ÷ 200 = 12%.

Not to be confused with

  • New product vitality index — the share of revenue from new products: it counts money, not products. A low hit rate can sit beside a high index when a few new products sell a lot.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “Only 4% sold in three months, so the other 96% have failed.” Right: a three-month window misses slow starters. In our study of 1.4 million products, products that began the 13 months with no ad spend and later sold took a median 4 months to their first sale.
  • Wrong: “This confirms the well-known claim that 80% of new products fail.” Right: that claim is about products a company develops and brings to market, while a store’s hit rate counts listed products that sold at least once. A perspective article in the Journal of Product Innovation Management calls the claim a myth: studies since 1977 put the failure rate at 40% or less.

Sources