Top Tips for Counting Your Physical Inventory

As this is an uncertain time for everyone at the moment with the Coronavirus causing havoc around the world, it may be a good time to have a look at your inventory and how you do your stock takes.  As a retail furniture business, you will likely have plenty of stock to account for.  The fact is, you need to make sure you stock enough styles to appeal to your wider audience.  But how do you know if your inventory management technique is up to scratch?  Are you counting your physical stock through inventory control software, or a cloud based POS?

If not, it may be time to start thinking about moving your stock control standards into the modern age.  Here are a few top tips on managing physical inventory which will apply to all furniture store operations.

Scan for Smart Inventory Management

One of the great benefits of using inventory control software is that it takes away the need for physical counting.  While physical stock collation is reliable to an extent, product scanning and digital record-keeping are much more trustworthy.

Can you use a furniture store POS to collate data on stock you have available?  Can you delegate product scanning to your team?  By scanning up products regularly, your cloud based POS will always let you know where you stand.

Be Smart About Scheduling with Inventory Control Software

It’s often a good idea to count stock on the go but think carefully about planning ahead.  Are you up to date on your furniture stock for the big Christmas rush?  How often do you run checks at all?

Setting up a schedule means you can always safely prepare for potential issues.  You can’t always fall back on precedents.  A POS will help you to set reminders to check stock.  It could also give you plenty of advance warning to check scheduling in plenty of time.

Educate Your Team with a Cloud Based POS

Stock management may seem simple.  However, it’s only so effective when you have a team available who knows what they are doing.  Make sure you roll out training modules to emphasise the importance of inventory counting.

You could instil a concept of ‘always checking’.  Without disrupting the working day, your staff could work to count stock as they go.  They won’t have to do this by hand.  They can scan and collate data through a Point of sale system.

Therefore, make sure to use inventory POS standards that are easy to get to grips with.  Set up modules and check knowledge at regular intervals.

Encourage Perpetual Checking

Finally, the most efficient inventory management technique is to keep it ticking over, constantly.  That is easily manageable through a POS.  Rather than spending hours catching up on missing items and stock, you can set up a POS to run a program to handle it all for you.

In a day and age where furniture retail has more demands than ever before, delegation and automation are key.

Conclusion

Keeping regular inventory management in furniture retail is crucial.  Are you keeping up to customer demands? Ordorite’s flexible, adaptable inventory management and POS system could be just what you need.  Click here to find out more about booking a live demo.