>That depends which retail guys you talk to. 2-3% margin may be true -- and it may be very far from true. It varies wildly by industry. If you're in the grocery business and you've got a 2-3% margin, you're doing well. In other industries you would be way behind the pack.
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>Also, turns is an inventory term. (The number of times your inventory turns over per year, i.e. annual sales divided by average inventory value). As long as you have enough cash to keep buying more, cash flow isn't going to be a brake on operations.

First software I wrote for a salary was for a wholesale - and the logic is the same, you want a turnover. Now the cost of having inventory is expressed by the average daily value of the inventory multiplied by the current interest rate - or, if you're in for some programming, calculate it for everything, day to day.

Now add to that the amount the interest calculated the same way on the amount of money that's out there, waiting to arrive to your account; that's the inventory you could have but can't. I'd really be curious to know how much would these two be - if not in absolute value, then in proportion.