Learn how to create a stock control system for your retail business. Get tips to improve stock control and fulfillment to earn more sales and grow your business.

Stock control and inventory management are a constant challenge for retailers, often leading to either frustrating stockouts or costly overstocking. 

Without proper inventory and stock control, you’re basically gambling with your business’s profitability. Why?

Excess inventory (overstocking) ties up your business’ capital and risks obsolescence, while understocking means lost sales and disappointed customers. Nothing turns off a customer like “we are out of stock for the item you need.”  

This is where stock control comes in. 

Stock control involves managing and tracking the inventory your business has on hand. You undertake stock control to keep the right amount of products available — not too little, not too much. 

When you stay in control of your stock, you know exactly what items you have, their amounts, where everything is located, and when to restock. This way, you avoid running out of your store’s popular products or ending up with too much stock that you don’t sell well.

So, how do you stay in control of your stock?

In this post, you’ll learn how to create a stock control system that improves your cash flow and helps your retail business maintain customers and grow. 

1. Invest in an inventory management solution for stock control

You need good inventory management software to help you handle stock more effectively. As you sell your products and new supplies arrive, the software updates your inventory automatically. This keeps you in the know with exactly what items you have available and those that need resstocking.

This is where BizKit POS for retailers comes in.

A good inventory software like BizKit POS will also:

• Set up automatic low stock alter (and sometimes reorders) when supplies get low.
• Track every SKU with accuracy across multiple locations
• Conduct stock audits
• Generate inventory reports on sales trends and stock turnover
• Integrate with your sales and accounting systems
• Manage stock across branches seamlessly
• Restrict inventory access & maintain inventory control by assigning user permissions.

BizKit POS offers a unified inventory management system that provides real-time visibility into stock levels across all your branches and retail locations. Centralizing all your data helps improve inventory forecasting, reduces manual work, and minimizes errors in order fulfillment. Learn more here about BizKit stock control.

2. Restrict inventory access

Don’t let everybody have access to your inventory. 

Maintain control over your inventory by assigning user permissions and limiting access only to authorized staff, ensuring security and preventing theft.

For example, you can let your sales staff know your stock levels but limit cashiers to sales only so they won’t see your stock levels. The sales staff need to know the stock levels so they’re not caught flat-footed by a customer with the wrong stock information.

3. Set low stock alerts

Keep your shelves stocked and your sales coming with automatic low-stock notifications.

Low-stock notifications are automated alerts that let businesses know when their inventory levels are running low. They can be sent via email or SMS and can help businesses avoid stockouts and missed sales. 

BizKit Pos helps you be in control of your stock by setting low stock alerts. With low-stock alerts, you’ll never miss sales from best-selling products. You’ll know when a product reaches a critical level, giving you the time to restock high-demand products and keep your customers happy.

You can also customize low-stock alerts on BizKit and prioritize high-demand items, ensuring they’re always replenished on time. Tailor these alerts to match your sales patterns and keep your bestsellers available. Learn more here about BizKit stock alters.

4. Optimize stock levels

Keep full control over your inventory, whether you’re managing a few items or thousands.

You need to find the right balance of your stock in the business. You don’t want to hold too much stock, which ties up your money, or too little stock, which can lead to shortages. 

BizKit’s inventory management features can help you maintain your retail business stock levels at optimal by:

• Conduct regular stock audits
• Monitor stock levels and value in real-time
• Giving you real-time updates on stock levels, item/product value, and replenishment needs Identify bestselling products
• Tracking the quantity of each product available for sale
• Track sold-out products and avoid selling out-of-stock products
• Receive reorder alerts 

If you have BizKit POS, you can use low stock alerts to know your low stock amounts, forecast inventory, and suggest reorder quantities — all accessible from your mobile device or desktop.

Looking for an inventory management system in Kenya that helps with your inventory or stock control needs?

💡 Download the BizKit POS app for your store, or try it for free here. 

5. Use business reports to analyze stock and predict future demand

Understanding what your customers will want in the future helps maintain optimal stock levels. 

BizKit’s business reports will help you understand your inventory and sales. This will help you know your best sellers and estimate how many orders your business will receive in the coming weeks or months. 

BizKit gives you three key reports:

• Inventory report
• Daily sales reports
• Financial reports 

With BizKit’s inventory reports, you can understand your business inventory and maximize profitability. BizKit’s stock reports provide a clear and detailed record of every stock item, helping you track your stock accurately. The daily sales report helps you keep track of sales from anywhere, including items sold, customer details and order values. Instantly see what’s selling most for the day and what needs attention with BizKit’s daily sales reports. From top-selling products to sold-out products, BizKit lets you know it all. This will give you the data you need to make smarter, data-driven decisions that fuel growth.

Take full control of your inventory with BizKit’s advanced inventory control tools.

Being in control of your stock shouldn’t be difficult! And you don’t need to micromanage your cashiers to stay in charge. If you’ve mastered your inventory and given the right access, you’re on your way to mastering your business. They won’t want to interfere because they won’t know how many items are in stock (you can do your stock recount anytime).

Get BizKit POS for advanced stock control tools for your business. Maintain accurate inventory records, never run out of stock or hold excess stock in your business.