Inventory Counting | In-House or Outsourced?

Whether you conduct your own stocktaking in-house or you choose to outsource, you should always be looking at ways to improve your stocktaking to speed up the process. Although be sure that the accuracy is still precise so nothing is counted incorrectly, don’t cut corners!

There are always arguments for and against both methods. It really boils down to what you’re more comfortable with and how you’d like your stock to be managed. We discuss a few solutions to make either method, less of a headache.

Stocktaking In-House

You may already be comfortable conducting your stocktaking in-house, simply because you know your own products, you know your staff and can do this wherever, whenever and whichever methods you want. You’re only relying on yourself and your staff, so you know if there’s a problem it’s down to yourselves to fix it, by giving you full control.

One of the biggest negatives to conducting your stocktaking in-house is how long it takes. This might be down to your current stocktaking method, such as using pens, paper & Excel. You also need to train and schedule your staff accordingly and make sure they know how to use Excel properly! You can improve greatly from here.

A solution to this, would be using a completely different method, something more modern and easier to use & manage. As always, this is what Datascan has been made for. Datascan will reduce your own stocktaking in-house by around 66% making you focus on more areas of your business and making sure your shop doesn’t close for a full day just to conduct a count. You want your stocktaking to be as fast, accurate and efficient as possible so why not make the jump to a digital platform?

This way, you will still be able to oversee your staff performing their counts. You will have your own management platform to check counts, reports and audits, no more checking individual papers or Excel files.

Here are some quick benefits of using Datascan in-house;

• Digital based counts
• Access to your counts on your computer, phone or tablet providing you have an internet connection
• Instant reports
• Multiple users counting at once, all synced together
• No more pens, paper, Excel or double entry
• Frequent updates & support

If you already outsource your stocktakes and are still looking at ways of improving performance, although not interested in counting the stock yourself, why not try with Altavant DMCC?

Here are some quick facts about why using Altavant fully outsourced solution. It would be beneficial to your business:

• Our staff are trained in counting, thus guaranteeing efficiency and accuracy
• Doesn’t take staff away from working with customers
• Counts carried out during opening hours if required
• High quality scanning equipment
• Counts are carried out quickly, efficiently and accurately
• Reports are received on the day of the count without delay

With either method, you can perform your stocktake to be as fast as possible, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, both methods work. It’s all down to personal preference and we, here at Altavant offer solutions for both. Solutions to make your in-house or outsourced stocktake faster and more accurate than before.

12 Reasons why you should outsource your stocktaking

Many of you would be familiar with the dreaded end of year, or quarterly and believe it or not in a lot of cases MONTHLY stocktakes! Imagine a world where at the click of a button you could bestow this dastardly task unto another poor soul… Well, here’s 12 reasons to make you consider doing so!

1. Shop staff, in general, dislike counting stock.
2. Too much time being wasted in Scheduling, Training & Monitoring staff, just to ensure they are counting correctly!
3. In-House counting of stock is not impartial and results could be falsified unknowingly.
4. The hassle of conducting the stocktake and managing staff to ensure accuracy is difficult and unproductive.
5. It’s a long day and can result in lost revenues and increased staff costs If people counting are not efficient.
6. Increased overtime/out of hour cost with in-house Stocktaking, This can be an unforeseen cost for small Businesses’.
7. With In-house Stocktaking, You may not be able to get such detailed reports on your stock. Eg variance reports, wastage, stock on hand etc..
8. Spot checks may not be carried out thoroughly and employees and management are working to full capacity.
9. It takes management and staff that are vital to the business away from their sole responsibility of putting the customer first.
10. There is an additional cost to renting your own equipment to carry out a stocktake, This equipment in the wrong hands is worthless!
11. Taking stocktaking is too long while purchases and sales are still in progress throwing your numbers into disarray.
12. Same day reports may not be possible!

Altavant can assist businesses in counting their stock in the most efficient manner possible. Our team of trained professionals, ensure that from the first point of contact that your requirements are recorded and communicated to the front line members of our Team. Every single item Top to Bottom is counted by our staff and through our procedures we provide full trace-ability.