Count part of your stock, reconcile the quantities with stock movements and pass on a method your second shop can use.
Your system says there are still a few units of the product a customer wants, but the team cannot find them on the shelf or in the stockroom. Should you reorder, change the stock record or look for a movement that was never logged? For a retailer in Morocco preparing to expand their own brand, cycle counting helps answer that question without tying up the whole shop. The idea is to count a portion of stock at regular intervals and investigate discrepancies while the movements are still easy to trace.
Choose one area and one objective
Start small: one shelf, a handful of items often bought together or the variants of a single product. Prioritise items whose absence costs you a sale or forces staff to promise a lead time they cannot control. A low-cost item may therefore come before an expensive one if it is needed to sell a complete set. Include lines with recurring discrepancies, especially where the packaging looks similar.
Specify what is in scope: shop floor, stockroom, items awaiting collection, returns or goods set aside. Separate what is physically present from what is available to sell. A damaged item in the stockroom or a unit already reserved is not as available as one that is ready to sell. If your system does not distinguish these states, list them separately on the count sheet rather than treating them as interchangeable.
This routine builds on the work of planning supply and replenishment. A well-chosen reorder point is of little use if it relies on a quantity that does not exist.
Count on a comparable basis
Fix a reference time for recorded stock and note when the count takes place. If you can briefly pause movements for the items in scope, do so. Otherwise, keep a timed log of sales, receipts, cancellations and transfers in between. When reconciling, include only movements that affect the stock you are comparing. If you cannot reconstruct the movements, count again at another time; a clean measurement is better than a rough correction.
Record the item code, variant, location and counting unit: single item, pack or carton. Where possible, do not show the counter the recorded quantity. Follow the same route and mark the locations already counted. Write a zero when there is no stock; a blank cell only means there is no result. For a discrepancy, ask for an independent recount if staffing allows, without sharing the first number.
Explain a discrepancy before correcting it
Compare the count with recorded stock at the same point in time, in the same unit and for the same product state. Look for verifiable causes first: a carton entered as one unit, a variant sold under another code, a receipt that was never confirmed or a movement between shelf and stockroom. A plausible guess is not a confirmed reason. A shortage does not establish theft.
Illustrative example. At 8:45 am the record shows 24 saleable units. Two sales logged after that time and before the count bring the expected quantity to 22. The team counts 20 units on display and one in the stockroom: 21 saleable units. It finds a further damaged unit that was set aside after 8:45 without a stock entry. If the time and reason are confirmed, an authorised person records the move and keeps the evidence. They do not then make a second one-unit adjustment: that would remove the same item from saleable stock twice.
If the cause is still unknown after checking, separate restoring the quantity from investigating the discrepancy. An authorised person can approve an adjustment with a clear record, without inventing a reason, then name an owner and a follow-up date. For a small team, reviewing the sheet and supporting records the next day can be an alternative to having a second approver on site. The important part is being able to explain the change afterwards.
Prepare a sheet your second shop can use
- Set the scope: site, area, items, units and stock states covered.
- Record the times: stock snapshot, count and movements in between.
- Check: count, recount if needed and remaining difference.
- Decide: evidence, adjustment or hold, authorised approver and deadline.
- Review: at the next cycle, check whether the cause recurs and whether the process change held.
Between two shops, use the same transfer reference on both forms. If the first site sends six units and the second receives five, do not adjust the two records independently to make them agree. Find out where the last unit is or which event has not been recorded. Give one person ownership of reconciling the two records. When teams arrive at the same diagnosis from the same evidence, the routine is easier to pass on as part of franchisor support.
Track discrepancies that come back
Monitor the number of lines with no discrepancy out of the lines actually counted, but keep the count volume and the most frequent causes too. Comparing rates from different product families can mislead. If the recurring issue is an unconfirmed receipt, test a change at that exact step: for example, add a field on the delivery record for who posted it and when. Then repeat the count on a comparable basis. If the discrepancy returns despite the change, go back to the evidence rather than making every count more frequent.
Before rolling out the method, ask a colleague to run a count from the sheet alone and show you which discrepancy they would leave open. The exercise exposes decisions that still rely on unspoken knowledge. It can also inform your plans to develop the business through franchising: the future network needs to learn how to make the decision, not just how to count.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to count every item every week?
No. Set the frequency based on stockout risk, recurring discrepancies and staff time. Do not forget slow-moving items: they can be counted less often, but they still need a date for the next check.
Can I start without dedicated software?
Yes, with a dated sheet and an identifiable source for recorded stock. When several people count at once or multiple shops exchange goods, make sure everyone can trace which version they used and each movement that took place.