How to run a stock count

A stock count (also called a stocktake or inventory count) is when you count what is physically on your shelves and compare it with what your system says you have. The differences are variances: theft, damage, miscounted deliveries, items scanned as the wrong product. Fixing them matters because everything else reads the same number: what you reorder, what you send to stores, and what you show as in stock online.

In Stokk you run stock counts from Inventory counts in the Warehouse menu.

Full count or cycle count?

• Full count: count everything at a location (or a whole category or supplier) in one go. It gives you a clean starting point, for example at year end, but it takes people and time.
• Cycle count: count a small part of the location every week, so the whole location is covered over a set cycle (say 120 days) with no shutdown. Stokk plans it for you and picks the bins most likely to be wrong; see Cycle-count schedule.

Many shops do one full count a year and cycle counts in between. For a single shelf that looks wrong, you don't need a count at all: use a stock check, which corrects one item at a time.

Step 1: start the count

Open Inventory counts, tap New count, and pick a method:

• Full / scoped: a whole location, or a slice by category, supplier, or ABC tier (count high-value A items more often). Expected quantities are frozen when you start, so the comparison doesn't move while you count. This is the only method that can zero what you don't find.
• By bin (walk): scan a bin, count everything in it, tap Next bin. Stokk lists what's recorded in the bin so you can see what's missing.
• Quick scan-to-add: an empty list you scan items into. Good for a fast spot check.

Counts are informed by default: counters see the expected quantity. Tick Blind count to hide it, so people count what they see rather than what they expect.

Step 2: give everyone a sheet

On a full / scoped count, several people can count at once. Tap Add sheet for each person or area: Blank (scan items in as you go) or Guided (a pre-filled list for one category, supplier, or tier to tick off). Add a label like “Window” or a name. Sheets of different kinds merge into one result, and each person taps Finish sheet when done.

Step 3: count by barcode

Scan a barcode or type a SKU, enter how many you found, and tap Add. Counting adds up: find 2 in the showroom and 5 in the back, scan the item twice, and the total is 7. Counts save as you go. Type a negative number or tap − to take some off.

A handheld with a built-in scanner is fastest. A phone works with a Bluetooth scanner, or by typing the code. Install the Stokk app on staff phones, and see devices for hardware.

Step 4: review the variances

Open Merge & review. It adds up each item across every sheet and shows how many SKUs you counted and how many have a variance. Then:

• Tick Only variances to see just the items that don't match.
• A 2 sheets badge means two people counted the same item. Check it isn't a double count.
• Fix a number inline, or tick items and Send to recount. That creates a recount sheet; Apply recount replaces the earlier figures.

A big variance on a fast seller is worth a recount before you post.

Step 5: submit

Tap Submit count. A full / scoped count lets you choose:

• Full reconcile: posts what you counted and sets everything uncounted in scope to zero. You see how many items will be zeroed first.
• Counted only: adjusts just the items you counted.

Bin walks and quick counts always submit as counted only. Stock is tracked per location, not per bin, so an item missing from one bin may be in another.

Stokk posts the count to your ERP as one document (with DK, you confirm it there) and updates its own stock at once, so ordering and store top-ups use the corrected figures.

What you get afterwards

• A count history: the counts list has Open, Submitted, and Archived tabs. Open a submitted count to see every line, expected against counted (counted only, if it was blind). You can Reopen it to fix something or Archive it.
• Corrected stock everywhere Stokk uses it, from item lookup to purchasing.
• Your dashboard: the Warehouse dashboard lists counts still in progress and cycle counts due this week.

Items a picker couldn't find during the week are handled as stock discrepancies, not in a count.

Related

• Cycle-count schedule: plan a rolling count with a coverage grid per location.
• Stock check: fix one item on the spot.
• Put away: record bin locations, which bin walks use.
• Stokk Counting: what the counting module does.