As a business it can be easy to think of a stocktake as a one-off event; something that happens sporadically or perhaps once a year. In reality it’s vitally important for you to always have a handle on your current stock levels.
Once you have this knowledge and understanding it can come with any number of benefits; however, no matter if it’s minimising stock loss or ensuring that your best-selling lines are always available on the shelves to be sold, they all have something in common.
They help your business increase profit.
So if stocktaking shouldn’t just be a singular event, how do you keep a continual eye on stock levels and what are your options as a business? Let’s explain the different types of frequency with which you could undertake a stocktake and how they can fit into your current strategies and boost profit margins.
Periodic Stock Counting
As it sounds, this type of stocktake is taken on a regular and fixed basis; whether that’s monthly, quarterly or half-yearly will depend largely on the industry you’re operating in and the type of goods you’re selling. Inexpensive items are usually checked on a less frequent basis than more expensive items, where any inaccuracies in stock or stock loss can soon add up into larger amounts of capital.
The duration of this type of stocktake will depend largely on the amount of stock to be counted but the obvious benefit is that you aren’t waiting until the end of the year for the facts and figures on your stock levels. Inaccuracies can be resolved, causes of stock loss identified and remedied, along with new stock purchased or decisions made based on solid facts.
All of these factors can lead to you having greater profit margins.
Continual and perpetual stocktaking
A continual or perpetual stocktake is completed throughout the year on an ongoing basis. The obvious benefit here is that you always have full and up to date information on stock levels, allowing you to quickly respond to supply and demand or address any potential causes of stock loss.
We’ve already said that the frequency of stocktake will and can depend on the value of the goods and this remains true within continual stocktaking; smaller items may be counted every six months, larger ones on a quarterly basis and high ticket on a calendar-month basis.
There shouldn’t be any impact on operational performance as a result of undertaking perceptual stocktaking as counting is taken in smaller batches due to the higher frequency of auditing.
Annual stocktaking
We’ve said that stocktaking shouldn’t be seen as a single event, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of having a larger and thorough analysis of your stock at the end of each year. These large stocktakes can give you the information on which to make better decisions and to act more profitably in the future.
How we work
With time comes experience; we’ve been working in the stocktaking industry for more than thirty years and over that time we’ve built a wealth of experience in what works and what doesn’t when it comes to helping you understand your stock levels and losses.
If you’d like to discuss your current stocktaking needs and the best possible solution to help you cost effectively increase current profit margins and minimise stock loss, then please give our team a call on 01637 874609.
