Stock counts: why physical inventory checks keep your business healthy

Your system says you have 100 units. You go to the shelf and count 97. Where did 3 units go?

Damage, theft, picking errors, miscounted deliveries—small discrepancies add up. Without regular stock counts, your inventory numbers drift further from reality until you're overselling products you don't actually have.

What is a stock count?

A stock count (also called stocktake, physical inventory, or inventory count) is when you physically count what's in your warehouse and compare it to what your system says.

The goal: find discrepancies, investigate the cause, and adjust your inventory to match reality.

Full counts vs cycle counts

Full stock count: Count everything at once. Usually done annually or quarterly. Often means closing operations for a day.

Cycle counting: Count a portion of inventory regularly—maybe 20% per week. By the end of the month, you've counted everything without shutting down. Less disruptive, catches problems faster.

Most businesses benefit from cycle counting. Errors get caught sooner, and you never have to stop selling for a full count day.

How to run an effective stock count

1. Create a count task. Select which products or locations to count. Generate a list for your team.

2. Count without bias. Some systems hide expected quantities so counters aren't influenced. They just record what they see.

3. Enter counts. Staff walks through, counts items, enters quantities—ideally via mobile app with barcode scanning.

4. Review discrepancies. System shows expected vs actual. Focus on the differences.

5. Investigate and adjust. Figure out why. Damage? Theft? Data entry error? Then approve the adjustment.

How Stockpilot handles this

Stockpilot's stock count feature lets you create count tasks, assign them to your team, and collect counts via mobile app. The system highlights discrepancies so you can review and approve adjustments in batch.

Every adjustment records a reason, and you can see the full mutation history in reports—so you have an audit trail of what changed and why.

Why this matters

Without regular counts:

• Inventory drifts from reality
• You sell products you don't have
• Shrinkage goes unnoticed
• Accounting doesn't match physical stock

With regular counts:

• You catch problems early
• Oversells decrease
• Theft and damage become visible
• Your numbers stay trustworthy

Stock counts aren't exciting. But they're the difference between inventory you can trust and inventory that's just a guess.