Stock Take: How To Do Them Accurately

In a research study carried out by the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) on inaccuracy in retailing, 60% of SKU records are likely to be wrong at any point in time, and when corrected, sales are uplifted by 6-8%.

Stock counts are clearly much more than a cost-intensive headache exercise. So, what can we learn about stock taking processes? What methods are there, how often should you ‘take stock’, and what on earth does all the jargon mean?

We see this subject matter disguised under several names. Inventory checking, wall-to-wall, stock-taking, stock counting. Whatever you want to call it, these are the three things the James and James team tell us they hang their hat on when it comes to [insert your preferred descriptor]:

Business Improvement Manager Tomas Aukstikalis says:

Always having your eye on the stock movements is super-important to making appropriate purchasing and marketing decisions.

He continues:

“Sometimes, when demand forecasting didn’t pan out the way brands expected, they end up with too much – or too little – stock on hand.

“In ControlPort, you’ve got a complete snapshot of your inventory in real-time with a suite of reports that go into more detail. Via the cloud software you’ll see stats on the total stock you have, the value and volume of said stock, number of unique product lines, and the cost of storing that stock in our fulfilment centre. Stock figures in your month-end report are continually refreshed and you can take a look at historical stock take reports on specific dates too.

“At a more granular level, you’ll see which products are stocked well, overstocked and low stocked, Best Before End (BBE) status where applicable, dormant lines (products that have been out of stock for over 30 days), and retired products. These are all valuable insights eCommerce brands rely on, on a daily basis.”