If you had to rate counting inventory for your retail business on a scale from one to 10, with one being the least favorite task to accomplish, what would your answer be? 

It wouldn’t be a surprise if your answer were number one. Counting physical inventory can be slow and tedious. It’s boring. And boredom can lead to inaccuracies and sloppy results.

Unfortunately, you can’t run a profitable retail business avoiding the mundane. You really have no choice but to conduct a reliable and periodic physical inventory count of your merchandise.

So, if counting inventory is something you’d rather avoid, you should think about why you need to keep accurate inventory counts in the first place. 

Counting physical inventory will help you:

• Avoid overstocking items that are not selling
• Carry enough items in stock to meet seasonal demand
• Know what items are lost due to theft

And that’s just the basics of a good inventory control system. Clearly, if you can assess, update and maintain inventory levels on a regular basis, you are saving money. 

Still, if the idea of physically counting inventory is enough to make your eyes glass over, perhaps a better solution for your business is investing in a competent inventory management service to do the work for you, saving you time and manpower.

After completing a thorough physical count of merchandise in your store, a good inventory service will also help develop a strategic plan for staying on top of supply and demand. You will not only have a clear picture of current sales, but you’ll also have the data you need to forecast future sales and measure business growth and success.

And that’s a win solution if counting inventory is not your thing.