Another stock control question

[lajlaj]

how do you monitor stock - do you use stock control sheets or just watch everything that comes and goes informally?

This has always been a big bug bear of mine and every single assistant I have had has been tasked with stock control and none of them have ever found a system that works for keeping on top of it all.

What do you all do?

[knotjustjigs]

Very crudely really! lol
On the outside of each big stock box i have a list of stock inside and add and cross off when i add or sell stock!(in a graph, of course not just scribbled down! hahaha) it works for me being a little business, i know how much i have at a glance but i know Claire at Anara who is a much bigger business said she uses quickbooks so that might be the answer ?

Ketty x

[babybiz]

I use quickbooks mainly but just lately have buggered it up. I spent two days stocktaking but before I could get the website and quickbooks updated weeks had gone by since and it was useless :( Third time I've done that but it's very complicated because I'm half way to changing all quickbooks codes but they have to be done one by one *yawn*.

Other than that the website itself is set up to be stock control so as long as the right amount is on there and I always asign a sales number so I just put the phone order etc through on there anyway and it takes it out of stock.

What about daily reports of how many of each item you sold. Put them in a folder and at the end of every week tot it up and do a weekly report that you can use as a stock guide? Should be easy on excel as it does most of the work for you. Do you have a way of downloading or using your accounts package to see the number of any given item sold?

Tashxx

[funkydorydawn]

At the moment I use the stock control element of the website. I do have to remember to adjust some products when others sell - ie if I sell a safari stationery set pre-filled bag - I have to also make sure I knock off a safari stationery set too - which I often forget to do.

I used to use excel spreadsheets and do a rolling stock figure which worked well but I couldn't be bothered to keep it up "Doh"

I'm intending to set up another spreadsheet as and when....

[babybiz]

I'm intending to set up another spreadsheet as and when....

The story of my life at the moment I've got so many good intentions but seem to be treading water 20061008

Tashxx

[Lemon]

I have stock control sheets - sheets I have done on my pc. I also ticket all my items, so there is a hanging ticket (with stock number etc) on every hanger. The hanging ticket goes in a pot when I have sold the item and then once a week'ish I adjust the stock on the sheets. When new stock comes in, I fill in the sheets.

It may be a hassle doing it this way, but at a glance I can see what I have and how much value in stock I hold.

[judithbl]

Mine are all on rails so you can see when stock is getting low. I have quickbooks too but have really got to sort the stock out on that.
x

[feistygal]

Quickbooks handles the stock control for me and the website also has stock control on it. It's another thing that is a nightmare because of all the different sales channels and the way in which the orders sometimes come in so fast its hard to keep control of.

What I've been doing is during the day/end of the day putting through all the sales on each sales channel as a customer in QB like a bricks and mortar shop would do. So all the websites sales for that day go in on one sales receipt.

Having a demo this afternoon for a bit of software that could potentially be a life saver as it links all my sales channels together and automatically reduces the stock from each when a product is sold in one sales channel. It also links to quickbooks so no more having to put in each days sales myself either. Its fully automated. I think its going to be really expensive but hopefully so worth it. I really can't survive a minute longer without it.

[lajlaj]

Thank you everyone. "My" website (that didn't get launched) had a very detailed stock control system built in. My biggest problem is that I buy the wristbands in bulk and sell in many different quantities and through many different channels, although it is quite easy to actually monitor that stock.

It is the jewellery we struggle with because there are so many styles and so many sizes, I don't want to do stock control through the website because I hate having items as out of stock and also when I last did it it was as an afterthought and it changed every single product to a quantity of one by default and there are too many to go through and change to the right amount now although it could be done one evening and work through the night (I tried it during the day and it was a nightmare because everytime someone bought a pack of wristbands it went to default out of stock, grrrr!).

We have just moved on to quick books so we may do stock control through that - it needs more thought.

Claire I'd be interested to hear the results of the tests of that software if you get chance later.

Tash that is a good idea - we can tell now on quickbooks what has been sold and once that is up to date (it isn't yet) then maybe we can do it that way.

Lots to think about, thanks everyone for replying there are some really useful tips and suggestions in there.

[MerrilyMe]

I'm quite lu7cky in that a lot of my main sellers stack neatly on shelves, or into crates and inside little 5x5 boxes, so i can see if things are low. Now i rarely pack though, it's a bit harder but we have a book that Michelle writes in as each thing hits below 5. Thing is, i keep quite high stocks and they also come quickly, i have A priority with several of my suppliers, so i get things in 2-3 days from ordering, if not before.

Last year, when i was selling through Amazon, Ebay and the site, i had post it note strips in purple for Amazon, yellow for Ebay and i only listed things in 2's a a time so i could see i wasn't double selling. At the moment i have almost nothing on Ebay and 400 things on Amazon and 700 on the site; i'm busy enough as it is but if it gets busier, i'll have no chance. I'm really reluctant to pay out for a stock maintainer though, so i'm banking on just having a back up box of every line for now.

It's a total nightmare though, i need about 4x the space i have to do it even slightly properly!

[naturalnursery]

We do have stock control on the website but we don't really use it - we use a POS called sales stream - let me know if you want the website and I can let you have it so you can down load a trial copy.

You can assign bar codes to each item or the system will generate a pul for you.

You then just book stock out as it sells - either with a scanner gun or but manual imput.

You can create purchase orders that you can print out or email to the supplier. YOu then just book the stock in from that so you don't have to enter each line manually.

You can run a number of reports, such as replenishment from a category or a supplier or just a general low stock report.

It will print out stock control lists for you, so you can see what you SHOULD have in stock and then amend as necessary.

I it will also handle year end in the same way and if you have entered all the info, it will tell you the value of goods held and your sales for a given period.

It can also keep a database of supplier details too, eg bank acc details, name address etc

hth

Axx

[babybiz]

I'm really interested in this, I've been looking into this lately as I already have the barcode system in place and ready to use. Can you PM or email me the details, I've got one site bookmarked that does all this and ties it in with quickbooks but I'd be hugely grateful for a recommendation of some other system. Does it work with a programme like quickbooks or does it replace it?

Tashxx