Now that you have set yourself up for success by following all of the recommendations from Day 1 and Day 2,  it is onto Day 3. Today you will begin the counting process, one of the most important steps of a successful inventory. Following these simple steps will help you in completing your inventory correctly and efficiently.   Make sure you schedule a time to do this when the store is slow or closed - if doing it while closed, it's best to section off areas as they are being counted - so you are not selling items from the counted inventory.

What to do on Day 3

Front of the House Things to Do

Using the mInventory app you will need to go to Inventory counts and start a new project. It is best practice to name the project based on the locations you are counting. 

Once you have created the project it is time to start scanning. The scanning can be done two ways. The first method is to scan every item individually, this will be the most accurate way to scan as it will make sure you are counting similar items as the correct UPC. The second method would be to scan the item once and then type in the total count for that item. If you do have similar items with different UPC you will need to make sure that you separate them before attempting to scan your inventory with this method. 

Once your whole section is counted you will export the project and email it to your manager.

Backoffice Things to Do

The manager will receive all exported project files which will contain the details of who counted each section and what was counted. 

After all projects have been consolidated, the manager will compare these counts to the current quantity on hand using an IBR from the CAS Portal to find any large discrepancies. 

These large discrepancies will then need to be recounted to verify that all pieces have been accounted for. 

As a best practice, you can randomly select products and recount them - assuming there is no variance, you can be confident of the counts. If you see substantial variances, you may want to determine if the errors were with one counter or section and expand the recounts accordingly. Some stores keep counting until all items have been verified (the same count appears twice). The comfort you have with inventory counts is not decided in the annual count - it's typically achieved in periodic cycle counts.

Review all the adjustment reports and confirm the count once you are satisfied that you have an accurate count.

In the next blog, we will discuss best practices in analyzing your inventory and maintaining accuracy of your stock levels throughout the year. For more details on Key Performance Indicators you can read our blog post on Retail Math.