Stocktakes are physical counts of your inventory. They help ensure your stock levels match the actual number of items you have. It differs from product adjustments, which simply add or remove items from your records without a physical check.
A stocktake doesn't directly add or subtract products; it sets the actual quantity on hand, correcting any discrepancies between your records and reality.
Stocktakes ensure your financial records are accurate, reflecting the true value of your inventory. Accurate records help you avoid overstocking (wasting money) or understocking (missing sales).
How often should you do stocktakes?
How often you do stocktakes really depends on the size of your business. In smaller places, it's pretty common to do them every one to two months. But honestly, the best practice is to do them more often, every one-two weeks.
Stocktakes tab in Suplery
The Stocktake tab, located within the Inventory page, allows you to manage your stocktake activities. Here, you'll find:
List of all stocktakes with their statuses and completed and last update date.
Search bar
Start new stocktake button
Stocktake statuses
The inventory list keeps track of all your ongoing and completed stocktakes. It is helpful for situations like seeing if a colleague has already started but not finished counting a specific stocktake. Here's what each status means:
In progress: you or someone else has begun counting the stocktake.
Paused: the stocktake count is on hold but can be resumed later.
Completed: the stocktake counting is finished, and the data is saved.
Canceled: the stocktake was stopped or rejected. It will not affect the stock levels and serves as an archived record.
How to start new stocktake
Click Start new stocktake. Stocktake details will open.
Enter or leave an automatically selected name for your stocktake.
Here, you could work with products and input counted quantities. You can search through:
all products,
uncounted items,
counted items,
excluded items (this tab appears if at least one product is excluded)
Why stocktake date is so important?
The stocktake date is essential for capturing an accurate snapshot of your inventory at a specific moment. This ensures everyone agrees on the exact amount of stock you have. For example, if one person counts 10 items at 10:00 AM and another counts 11 items at 10:01 AM, the stocktake date confirms the actual stock as 11 items.
Timing is especially important when new stock arrives. If you do your stocktake before a delivery at 10:00 AM, set the stocktake date just before the arrival to exclude the new items. If you do it after the delivery, include the new items in your count. This helps maintain accurate and consistent inventory records.
How to do a stocktake
Now that you've started your inventory, here's how to count your stock:
Enter the actual quantity for each product in Counted column.
The indicator next to the product will show discrepancies between the expected amount and reality:
Checkmark: the actual quantity matches what you expected based on past inventory and stock adjustments.
Down arrow: the actual quantity is lower than expected.
Up arrow: the actual quantity is higher than expected.
We auto-save your stocktake whenever you interact with it, so you will never lose your work as long as you’re connected to the internet.
What does a stocktake warning mean?
Ideally, stocktakes should happen when no product changes occur in the system. However, to handle unexpected changes, we added warnings.
Warnings appear for products with potential discrepancies: it helps you focus on these items. Status near the warning explains the issue: it might be a higher or lower stock level than expected.
Options to resolve the warning:
Keep set quantity to confirm the current count you entered.
Edit counted quantity.
Warning disappears once a quantity field is edited.
How to pause and resume started stocktake?
Click Pause in the top right corner to stop counting. Then click on paused stocktake in the list and then click Resume stocktake to continue.
How to cancel a started stocktake?
Click Cancel in the top right corner to stop counting.
If at least one item was counted, the stocktake will move to the Canceled list.
If no items were counted, the stocktake will be deleted.
How to do a partial stocktake?
Simply skip the products you don't want to count.
At the end, we will ask if you want to exclude them in one click.
Their quantities will remain untouched.
Use a barcode scanner to make stocktaking easier!
Instead of manually searching for products, you can scan them with your favorite barcode scanner. Then enter the quantity of each scanned item in the Counted column.
How to complete stocktake
Here's how to finalize your stocktake count:
Focus on counting the products you need. The system includes all products in stocktake by default, but you'll be prompted to confirm uncounted items later.
Click Complete stocktake when you're done counting.
The system will show you all uncounted items. You can choose to:
Exclude: leave the product quantities untouched.
Set quantity to 0: set zeros for their quantities.
View: open a list of all uncounted items.
If everything matches, click Complete stocktake again to complete. If there are issues, you'll see warnings. Fix them and click Complete stocktake again.
Stocktake will be saved based on the completion time.
The completed stocktake details will open. It shows details like name, date, counted/excluded items, and any discrepancies.
How to complete stocktake with warnings?
Don't worry if you see warnings when finishing your stocktake. Even if warning is there, you can still click on Complete stocktake. In this case, a popover will be displayed notifying you that some items need attention. Possible actions:
Review. You'll see all warnings and can remove them one by one.
Click Keep set quantity and complete. This option skips reviewing warnings and keeps the current count for all products.
How to edit stocktake
If you realize there's a mistake in your stocktake or have another reason to update it, you can just go back and edit the completed stocktake. Here's how to do it:
Find the stocktake in the list and click on it.
Click Edit stocktake.
Change the stocktake data as needed.
Click Update stocktake to save the changes.
How to cancel completed stocktake
While you can't undo a completed stocktake, you can cancel it. This will erase the stocktake results and recalculate stock quantities. The system will act as if the stocktake never happened, and the quantity of products in stock will be recalculated as if the stocktake never existed.
To cancel completed stocktake:
Find the stocktake in the list and click on it.
Click Cancel stocktake.
Accept changes.
How to restore canceled stocktake
Canceled stocktake are stored separately. Click View canceled in the top left corner to access them (only visible if you have canceled stocktakes).
Find the canceled stocktake in the list.
Click Restore stocktake.
What happens next depends on the original status of the stocktake:
Unfinished stocktake will return to Paused status, allowing you to resume counting.
Restoring a completed stocktake will automatically set it back to Completed and adjust stock levels based on the original count. Be sure before proceeding, as it might impact your inventory data.
Accept changes to confirm the restoration.