The Christmas and new year period is the busiest time of year for retailers across the UK. Last minute shoppers, high demand, and post-Christmas returns are all major concerns, and they can all wreak havoc on your stocktaking procedures.
That’s why utilising third party stocktaking solutions and conducting perpetual inventory checks are vital in recovering from the Christmas rush.
Read on to find out how Orridge can help your business thrive amidst the post-Christmas chaos!
Christmas will affect your stocktaking process.
The holiday period tends to be the most disruptive time for retailers, warehouses, and wider supply chains every year. Demand and workload increase significantly alongside stress levels in your employees, which can lead to a breakdown in communication and, in some cases, the sacrifice of daily stocktaking operations.
Additionally, customer returns and reverse logistics can add even more pressure to your stock teams, as these need to be carefully processed and accounted for.
By failing to conduct the proper stocktakes required for key decision making, your data and important information can get lost in the chaos, meaning your staff may be inadvertently damaging your ability to meet customer demand.
This can have a particular impact to on-shelf availability both before and especially after Christmas, leading to a reduction in customer satisfaction. That’s why it is crucial for businesses to conduct full post-Christmas stock audits to understand where they are at the start of the year.
Full warehouse stock takes can bring stability
Committing to a full warehouse stocktake is often the only way to ensure that you are fully updated with your stock information at any one time, and that is especially important after Christmas.
You can see exactly how much of each item you have, where demand was highest, and the things you needn’t worry about for a while.
This can help you immediately start working towards the things that you need, whether that’s ordering more stock of particularly popular items or ensuring all your stores have access to the demand they need.
Orridge provide comprehensive wall-to-wall stocktaking services to companies across the UK and are proud to help our clients approach the new year with confidence. Our team of expert retail stock counters and auditors will ensure that you are fully caught up with accurate, reliable stock data, minimising human error and maximising efficiency.
Are there alternatives to this method?
A full warehouse stocktake is a huge operation and sometimes isn’t viable due to the size, scale, or complexity of your operations. Additionally, the results of a stocktake performed in this manner only give you a snapshot at a particular moment of time.
Within a few weeks or even days, the data you have could be outdated, and you may start over- or under-stocking as a result.
That’s why Perpetual Inventory (PI) checks can be incredibly useful for businesses wondering how to prevent stock loss and manage their inventory more successfully.
Use Perpetual Inventory counting to stay prepared
PI checks are an alternative to the traditional warehouse stocktake, providing regular, small-scale stock updates over a set period rather than a huge operation at semi-regular intervals.
Orridge PI checks are conducted systematically, providing you with key updates on stock as and when you need it.
This constant stream of information provides you with an always up-to-date viewpoint when making key decisions, and our collaboration with your existing teams helps to improve accuracy.
You can also request updates on specific stock items as and when you need them, providing you with the key data you need to make stock-related decisions.
Our team can also improve your business efficiency as it takes regular stocktaking services away from your staff, who can instead focus on their day-to-day duties and customer service.
Having a dedicated PI team based at your distribution hubs and warehouses is also often a more cost-effective solution than regularly hiring several different counters for full stocktakes, especially due to the flexibility they provide.
Get in touch with Orridge
Wondering how our comprehensive stocktaking services could help improve your warehousing operations?
Thinking about how you can improve on shelf availability or how to reduce stock loss in retail? Get in touch with Orridge today.
Our expert team of stocktaking experts can help discuss your existing operations and help suggest ways to improve them with Orridge services. Give us a call on 01279 775 600 or email sales@orridge.co.uk to find out what we could do for you.