Inventory control can become a complicated and faulty process without stocktaking. However, stocktaking can get tricky if you don’t thoroughly understand this concept. To help you with it, this blog will provide everything you need to know about what is stocktake, what are its benefits, and its application in businesses nowadays.
Overview
What is stocktake?
Stocktaking (also known as inventory checking) is the process of physically checking the quantity and quality of a businesses’ sellable inventory. Stocktaking is often conducted after a certain period of time. The task can include checking stocks on the shelf, comparing them to the data in your inventory management system, and making any reports or analyses afterward.
This process is even more important for manufacturers or inventory-rich companies. Based on the outcome of stocktake, businesses will stay up-to-date about their inventory levels. They can come up with suitable strategies and point out possible discrepancies in inventory information.
So what are some of the major benefits of stocktake?
Benefits of stocktake
Maintain a balanced inventory level
Having sufficient stocks can be beneficial for your own companies and stakeholders. Stocktaking makes sure that you have enough stocks to sell to customers and not overstock. It helps you stay informed of the latest amount of inventory. For example, you may figure out that your store is currently running out of stock on a specific item. You may also find dead stock which has expired and is no longer sellable. In some other cases, stocktaking helps store owners to identify the damaged goods and make replacements in time. In these ways, stocktake can maintain a well-balanced inventory level.
Recognize stock errors
Stocktaking can also help to minimize mistakes regarding inventory levels. By frequently conducting stocktakes, businesses can realize problems in time, namely the damaged containing boxes, damp atmosphere, or even theft. Moreover, store owners can also notify the discrepancies between the data they have and the actual inventory levels.
In fact, research has shown that 6 in 10 online customers check the availability of a product before visiting the physical store. This is why you should frequently check your stocks to provide the most correct information for customers.
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Improve your sales techniques
Another benefit of stocktake is that it gives you a base to develop better sales strategies. Store owners can form a close connection between the sales numbers and the behind-the-scenes stocks. Therefore, they can make more precise restock decisions and come up with suitable sales techniques. For example, if a stock is identified to stay on the shelves for too long, businesses may want to create promotions for that product.
How can stocktake be done?
Now that you know what is stocktake and its benefits, here is the practical side of stocktaking. There are no limits about the frequencies of stocktaking – the more stocktakes the better. However, businesses usually conduct this process weekly or monthly, which depends on the length of their product life cycles.
Nowadays, stocktake can mostly be done with the help of technology. Many businesses have used point of sale (POS) systems with stocktake functions to facilitate this process. Take ConnectPOS as an example – this system offers its Magento 2 users the counting and saving stock items function in their app. This helps to minimize errors and store data for later reference. With ConnectPOS, users can also keep an eye on their stocks over a period of time.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has provided useful information about what is stocktake. If you are interested in ConnectPOS, feel free to contact our team for more information or start a 14-day free trial.