Initial Stock Take / Inventory
The first part of this article describes our recommended store processes for completing an accurate full store stock take / inventory. Planning and preparation is the key to making the process run as smoothly as possible.
Planning
- Make one member of staff the lead for the stock take / inventory procedure;
- Define roles for each member of staff involved in the stock take / inventory;
- Create a basic map of the store. Create easily countable 'zones', giving each a code. Make several copies;
- Check that any other kit needed is available such as laptops, pens, and paper;
- Ensure staff schedules are set covering the stock take / inventory period;
- Train staff on all stock take / inventory processes
- Make sure customers are informed of the day the store will be closed, if applicable;
- Ensure you test the stock take / inventory procedure for a small group of products - use all of the processes you plan to use in the live stock take / inventory. This will help to familiarise you with the procedures involved and highlight any potential issues.
- Make sure all of the planning above is done well ahead of the live stock take / inventory, giving you plenty of time to adjust the process and deal with any issues that arise.
Preparation
- This is a good time to go through very slow-moving lines and clear them before the stock take / inventory. You could use Cloud Reports to identify stock that has not sold in the last year and have a pre-stock take / inventory clearance sale;
- Check all open Special Orders, Layaways and Workshop Jobs. Make sure stock is assigned correctly and make sure any that should/could be closed are closed;
- Ensure you have a Reason Code created for stock take / inventory
- Do a negative item report, investigate any discrepancies and adjust where needed.
Stock Take / Inventory day
- For an end of year full stock take / inventory the store should be closed for the day;
- Make sure everyone is aware of the zoning of the store. Each area could be outlined using masking tape to reduce any miscounting;
- Prepare a 'Mystery Bin'. If any items will not scan or are unidentifiable during the stock take / inventory, place them in the Mystery Bin;
- Count each zone separately, and when a zone is counted, the file should be emailed to the staff member inputting the data into the stock take / inventory in the Back Office, or if doing a paper-based count, this should be handed over to the same member of staff;
- Once all zones are counted, identify, label, and count every item in the Mystery Bin;
- Upload the stock take / inventory files to stock take / inventory in the Back Office;
- Calculate the stock take / inventory and research any discrepancies;
- Resolve any discrepancies and adjust where needed;
- Commit your new inventory levels;
- Clean up the store.
Rolling stock take / inventory
The above process describes the full store stock take / inventory process. However, this is only part of effectively using the stock take / inventory functionality to control stock on an ongoing basis.
The ultimate aim is to implement a rolling stock take / inventory procedure, which requires you to do smaller, more frequent stock take / inventory on different groups of products.
Planning
- Create a schedule for your rolling stock take / inventory. A suggestion would be to base this on Departments and/or Categories. For example, on Thursday this week we will do jackets, and Thursday of next week we will do shoes;
- You can use Item Price List in Cloud Reports to view the 'Last Counted' date for items, which helps to ensure items do not become neglected;
- Try to make sure that the product groups you choose can be counted quickly and easily within 30 minutes to an hour;
- Make sure you are aware of all the different locations where those products will be;
Preparation
- Ideally, label sweep the product group, making sure every item on every fixture and in all store rooms is labelled with the correct store labels;
- Check all open Layaways, Special Orders and Workshop Jobs for any of the products you are counting;
- Do a negative item report for your product group, investigate any discrepancies and adjust where needed.
Stock Take / Inventory day
- Create the stock take / inventory on the retail system. As you are not stock taking all items in the store, remember to use the Create Blank stock take / inventory & Add Items option;
- Count all of the products in your product group using the smartphone app or the traditional paper-based method;
- Import the count into the stock take / inventory on Citrus-Lime Backoffice;
- Calculate the stock take / inventory, and research any obvious discrepancies;
- Resolve any discrepancies and adjust where needed;
- Commit your new inventory levels.
If you follow the above processes, you will find that stock / inventory issues will be found more quickly and can be dealt with far more effectively. It should also mean that at any given point during the year, you can run an Inventory Valuation report and be confident that the figures produced are going to be as accurate as possible.
