A Guide To Preparing For Your Christmas Stocktake

Christmas is just around the corner, and you are probably excited about having some time together with friends and family.

However, Christmas signifies the end of the year, and you need to think about your business as well.

It is recommended that companies take annual stock takes to keep their records up to date and help you to analyse how things have panned out for the year.

An annual stock take is not as simple as it appears and you need to prepare for it well.

Please continue reading to find out more about what you need to understand when taking your annual stocktake.

What Is A Stocktake?

A stocktake is a way of checking how much inventory your business has on hand at any particular point.

Usually, the stock you hold should match your current records, and this information can be obtained by checking the stock.

However, this is an ideal situation and records do not account for spoilages and theft that can reduce what you have in your inventory.

Stocktaking allows you to reconcile what the records say and what is actually present.

Performing a stock take is a considerable activity especially for big businesses that have a lot of goods.

Here are some steps for performing the right stocktake.

Select A Suitable Time

Your business will most likely be running over the festive period, so you should not interfere with the regular business hours to perform a stocktake.

Choose a specific time outside the regular business hours such as a public holiday or a weekend.

If your business has a small amount of stock, you can opt to do it early in the morning or after the business hours.

Identify the Stock’s Location

It is possible to have stock spread in different places such as stores, warehouses, and godowns that might not be necessarily close to your brick and mortar store.

Ensure that all these warehouses are cleared and prepared well for stock-taking as you need to record the stock stored there.

However, ensure you separate stock that is in your store, and that is still in the warehouses under different categories.

Make Use of A System

We live in a technological era, and you should not resign to the traditional ways of stocktaking.

Implement a system that makes it easy to record inventory and manage it.

Have a plan on which locations will be counted first, and if you have the capacity, have the staff members counting stock in different places simultaneously.

If you are counting stock manually, have two people do it so that you can compare what they get and see if there are any discrepancies.

An automated system will make work easier since stock can be counted by scanning bar codes and it will be hard for people to try and cover up for stolen goods.

Count Everything

You should try to have a comprehensive inventory system that captures every commodity held by your business.

Count every item and do not assume current inventory data or make assumptions.

A comprehensive stocktake helps to tell you what is on hand, so you should even open boxes if you need to.

Look in the stores and try to find any stock that might have been forgotten in the everyday running of the business.

Update Your Records

Once the counting has been completed, verify the actual numbers and what the records say.

This will help to sort out the discrepancies between the two numbers and give you an idea of how your business is doing.

A stocktake does not need to disrupt your business, and it helps to give you the information required to make better decisions.

Plan for your stocktake well, and once you do it this Christmas, you will be better placed to plan for the coming year well.

If you would like to know more about the best stocktaking solutions and how the right set of software and point of sale systems could help you, give us a call.

Our team would be happy to discuss your needs and to help you build new, more efficient workflows that will support the best operation of your warehouse or store.

We have the right tools for companies of all sizes and will work to accommodate your business, supplying you with technologies that are tailored to suit your business to help improve your efficiency and accountability.

We are the market leader when it comes to the development of customised and packaged solutions.

This includes Inventory Management, Portable Barcode Readers, Supply Chain Management, Time and Attendance and Asset Tracking to name but a few.

Please call us today on 03 9578 7600 or 1800 061 642 or contact us through our website on https://www.asp.com.au/contact-us/.