At the heart of every stock take is a lot of numbers, figures and counting. But this isn’t what it’s all about; it’s about the information that those facts and figures give you as a business owner and what you can then do with them to not only improve the current financial position of your business, but also increase profitability going forward.
Here’s just a few ways in which retail stocktaking can provide you with the information you need to make solid decisions based on cold hard stock level facts.
Confirming your gross profit
Understanding margins is central to every retail business; you’ll already know the price you’re selling your goods for but do you know how much they’re costing you in the process? Effective stocktaking puts you firmly in control of this information; it should help you to understand what stock is selling and where, along with any issues that are going to increase the cost of sale, for example stock loss (which leads us nicely onto our next point)…
Identifying stock loss and minimising it
If stock is being lost at any point during your sales and supply processes, then it’s going to cost you on your margin and therefore on your bottom line. No matter if it’s shoplifting (which costs UK retailers more than £600 million each year), refunds and returns (which now rack up to a staggering £60 billion) or mistakes by inexperienced or untrained staff, a stocktake can identify these and once done so, becomes the first step in the solution of the problem.
Helping you with pricing
Once you’ve got a firm grip on your gross margin and the causes of stock loss, you should be in a great position to price your goods effectively in order to maximise your profits. When you combine these factors with added information on seasonality and demand that a stocktake will be able to provide, the chances of you maximising your potential revenue are further increased.
Manage stock and improve cash flow
There’s an old adage that ‘cash is king’ and it certainly applies to retail businesses; you definitely don’t want your business capital tied up in large amounts of depreciating stock that isn’t selling. We’ve just mentioned that efficient stocktaking can help you to better understand buying trends and this information is key when trying to keep stock levels as low as possible whilst continuing to service demand on your top sellers.
Working with an independent stocktaker
We’ve been working with retailers of all sizes for more than three decades. Our aim is always to provide the most accurate information and in doing so, to help you increase the profits and performance of your own business.
If you’d like to discuss specialist retail stocktaking services for your business then please give the team a call on 01637 874609 and we’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
