Warehouse Stock Control Systems: An In-Depth Guide

Why is warehouse stock control so essential?

For online retailers and third-party (3PL) logistics providers, warehouse stock control is vital to ensure the right amount of stock is available to meet customer demand and keep storage costs low. It helps to avoid issues like stockouts and plays a key part in the inventory management process.

Many ecommerce businesses ensure effective stock control via a warehouse management system, which can automate processes and make it easy to monitor stock movements and availability, as well as track and minimise warehouse costs.

This comprehensive guide will give you an overview of what warehouse stock control involves, its many advantages and why it is so vital for an effective warehouse.

Warehouse stock control defined

Also known as inventory control, warehouse stock control refers to the management and movement of stock within a warehouse or distribution centre. It requires monitoring stock levels across the end-to-end fulfilment process – from receiving stock to delivering orders to the customer.

The main goal of warehouse stock control is to ensure that the right products are available in the right quantities at the right locations. It plays a crucial role in not only minimising warehouse costs and enhancing efficiency, but also ensuring adequate inventory is on hand to meet future requirements.

Why stock control is vital for effective warehouse management

Having a stock control system in place gives you visibility over your inventory and its movement within your warehouse. This is essential to:

Identify inventory disparities

Flaws in stock control procedures are one of the main causes for disparities between the actual stock you have and what is on record. Such flaws must be rectified as soon as possible if you want to avoid over or understocking as well as stock shrinkage. This means having a system in place to track all your incoming and outgoing goods, in addition to your inventory management processes.

Satisfy customer demand

For many ecommerce businesses, a lack of available stock is one of the main reasons why orders go unfulfilled, and in today’s world of online selling, even one instance of failing to deliver on time can ruin customer loyalty.

An effective stock control system ensures that you can track the supply of inbound and outbound goods so you can maintain the right about of inventory to service demand. It also provides visibility of the processes and movement of goods within your warehouse so you can ensure everything is on track to fulfil a customer order.

The perils of inaccurately monitoring inventory

To help illustrate how failing to track stock movements can lead to disaster, let’s look at an example. Imagine that your business has just finished running a marketing campaign to promote a particular item. The campaign is a success, and you soon receive countless orders. But there’s a problem; as your warehouse personnel begin processing the first few orders, they realise that an entire pallet of the specific item – which was believed to be in stock – is simply missing.

This nightmare scenario could have been the result of improper checking of stock when it was received at the warehouse. Or your supplier simply got it wrong and underdelivered. Whatever the cause, the lesson is that if you had an effective stock control system in place, this issue could have been avoided. You would have had visibility of your inventory levels and therefore would have known that you were short of stock.

5 types of stock control systems

By providing the ability to closely track stock levels and trends, a warehouse stock control system allows ecommerce businesses to anticipate future demand. Not only that, it also helps you avoid overordering stock, which can use up vital warehouse space and increase your costs.

So, what are the ways that you can ensure warehouse stock control? There are a range of methods, each with their own pros and cons. Here, we look at the most common.

Manual tracking via spreadsheets

Perhaps the most uncomplicated and low-cost method of ensuring warehouse stock control is using spreadsheets. This method can work for warehouses with simple inventory needs, with the ability to record all your orders, shipments, purchases and stock levels in a single spreadsheet. However, the larger your warehouse and more complicated its needs, the more spreadsheets become unsustainable for tracking stock, as they require increasing effort to update regularly.

Radio-frequency identification

A recent technological advancement used to track goods in warehouses with more complex inventory needs is radio-frequency identification (RFID). This method of stock control requires applying RFID tags to each stock item, with each tag containing relevant information about the item. Warehouse staff can then use RFID technology to scan large batches of stock so that orders and inventory levels can be tracked.

Mobile barcode scanning

Found in all the most modern warehouses, a mobile barcode scanning system allows ecommerce businesses to quickly access information about stock levels, product availability and orders. It is a highly cost-effective method of stock control that involves using a mobile device to scan item barcodes, which contain vital data such as the item’s name, size and price. Barcode scanning does not require you to purchase any hardware or software, eliminates manual data entry and enables more accurate stock data.

Automated ordering systems

This method of warehouse stock control can be more expensive to implement, but it allows ecommerce businesses to eliminate many manual tasks and ensure more accurate, real-time inventory management. With an automated ordering system, you can establish specific conditions for when and how you order new stock. For instance, you could configure the system to order a specific product when your stock of that product falls below a certain threshold.

Warehouse stock control system

A cloud-based warehouse stock control system is another method that helps you automate many processes and provides real-time visibility of your inventory and stock movements. Because it is cloud-based, the system can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. It can also be integrated with other stock control software solutions like a warehouse management system or a barcode scanning solution.

4 proven strategies to ensure warehouse stock control

The methods you choose to ensure efficient and effective stock control may depend on the size and complexity of your warehouse operations. However, there are four proven strategies to ensure stock control that you may want to consider adopting.

Implement routine checks and procedures

The efficiency of your warehouse operations directly impacts stock control accuracy. Putting in place a system of routine checks and procedures can help optimise your warehouse supply chain. This can include:

• When receiving goods from a supplier, verifying that the quantity of stock you ordered has been delivered and promptly addressing any missing items.
• Conducting a quality control check upon product stock arrival to spot and address issues immediately.
• Make sure to label stock with individual item codes or SKUs for simpler tracking.
• Regularly rotate your stock to prevent its expiration or aging, even if the stock is not perishable.
• Utilise clear order forms to minimise picking and packing errors.
• Create an effective returns system so you can ensure product exchanges and returns are performed accurately and efficiently.

Perform regular stock checks

While seemingly straightforward, regular stock checks are crucial. The process involves warehouse staff manually counting the quantity of each product in your warehouse and reconciling this figure with your records. Various methods include:

• Periodic stock checks scheduled monthly or quarterly where you check all of your warehouse stock.
• Continuous or cyclical stock checks performed at different intervals during the year, with each check focusing on a particular product line or category.
• Spot checks performed between larger stock checks where you randomly assess specific product lines.
• An annual stock take to count all your stock, typically performed at the close of the financial year.

Establishing Periodic Automatic Replacement levels

Periodic Automatic Replacement (PAR) is a system of inventory control that allows you to work out the optimal level of inventory required to satisfy order demand, known as your PAR level. A number of factors will determine your PAR level, including seasonal fluctuations, annual holidays or even particular days of the week.

To work out your PAR level, you will need to determine how many orders for a particular item you expect to receive in a given period. You can then establish the minimum amount of inventory you will need to service this demand. If your stock of that item falls below your PAR level, you will need to replenish your stock.

Setting PAR levels is particularly important if you are selling perishable goods, as you do not want to order too much stock that has a high risk of expiring. Even if you are not dealing with perishable items, PAR levels are still critical to ensure you do not order too much stock that will take up valuable space in your warehouse.

If you are using warehouse management software, replenishing stock is made easy as the system will automatically notify you when your stock falls below your PAR level. You can even set up rules to automatically reorder stock from your supplier.

Optimise processes with a warehouse management system

A cloud-based warehouse management system can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of your warehouse stock control with countless time-saving features. Such software can automate many error-prone manual tasks like stock counting and allows you to utilise barcode scanning to make stock control easier.

Tracking your inventory levels and stock movements in real-time is another key benefit of a warehouse management system. It provides intuitive dashboards and advanced reporting to ensure you can spot issues well in advance. Plus, it can also help you optimise warehouse space and streamline the management of multiple stock locations.

How Access Mintsoft enhances warehouse stock control

Access Mintsoft offers the intelligent automation you need to eliminate manual tasks and ensure efficient stock control. Real-time reporting gives you full visibility of orders, inventory and deliveries while next-gen warehouse management features help you optimise warehouse space and processes.

This easy-to-use cloud-based solution is designed for Australian 3PL warehouses, wholesalers and ecommerce operations both large and small, no matter if your business is B2B or B2C.

Watch Video: Top 4 ways Mintsoft can help automate your order and warehouse processes