How to Run a Stock Count That Actually Matches Your Shelves

It's closing time and the system says you have 24 of your best-selling candle. The shelf has 19. Did five get sold without being rung up? Was a delivery received twice? Is there a box in the back nobody counted? Nobody knows, so the number gets typed over and life goes on until next time.

A stock count only helps if you trust what it tells you. This guide covers how to set one up so you can: every product labelled, every count scanned, and every correction recorded with a reason.

Why most stock counts don't fix anything

Most counts fail in one of three places:

• Products without a scannable code. Counting by reading names off a list is slow, and two similar items get counted as one.

• Counting on paper, then typing it in. Every number is handled twice, and mistakes slip in when it's typed in.

• Overwriting stock instead of adjusting it. If you type "19" over "24", the five missing units disappear with no record that they were ever missing.

Each step below fixes one of these.

Step 1: Give every product a barcode

Products that arrive with a manufacturer barcode are ready to go. For everything else, such as your own goods, loose items and repacked stock, Winstia can generate a barcode. It supports common formats including Code 128, EAN-13, UPC and QR codes.

If an item's code is alphanumeric, Winstia falls back to Code 128 rather than producing an EAN-13 that won't scan.

Step 2: Print labels in batches, not one at a time

Labelling one product at a time is how labelling projects stall. The barcode tools have two modes:

• Single: search for a product by name, SKU or barcode and print its labels straight away.

• Bulk: filter products by category or by low stock, tick the ones you want, and set quantities in the print dialog.

You choose what goes on each label: product name, price, SKU or barcode text, batch or lot number, and expiry date. Batch and expiry matter most for food and other perishables.

Labels can print on a label roll (one per page) or on A4 sheets, including die-cut Avery-style sheets. If your printer prints slightly off-centre, you can nudge the position in half-millimetre steps.

Save a setup you use often as a preset, such as "Shelf Edge" or "Item Sticker", so the next run takes a few clicks. If a product in a bulk run has no barcode or SKU, it is skipped and listed for you to fix, so you don't print a blank label.

Step 3: Start a stocktake session

In Inventory, start a stocktake, give it a name (for example "October shelf count") and, if you run more than one store, choose which store you're counting. The session keeps the count separate from live stock until you're ready to post it.

Step 4: Scan to count

With the session open, scan with a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner. Each scan adds one to that product's count, with a sound to confirm it registered, so fast scanning doesn't lose counts. If a barcode isn't recognised, you get an error sound and a "Product not found" message showing the code, so the item can be set aside and labelled later.

You can also type a count straight into the list. That's handy for a sealed carton you don't want to open. For every line you see the expected quantity, the counted quantity and the variance between them.

Step 5: Post only the real differences

When you complete the stocktake, Winstia records an adjustment only for lines where the count differs from what the system expected. Each adjustment goes into your stock movement ledger with a note giving the session name, the counted quantity and the expected quantity.

A few safeguards are built in:

• Products you didn't count are left alone. If you only got through half the shop, the other half isn't zeroed out.

• Nothing posts twice. Completing the same stocktake a second time reports that it was already done and posts no new adjustments.

• Cancelling discards the session. It never touches live stock.

Back to the candle: instead of quietly becoming 19, the ledger now shows a five-unit adjustment from a named count, saying exactly what was expected and what was found. That's something you can investigate.

A counting rhythm that works

• Weekly: count your fastest movers and anything that's been on a low stock alert.

• Monthly: count one category or one area of the store in full.

• Before year end: do a full count, so your closing stock figure is one you can stand behind.

Look at the variances, not just the totals. If the same product is short every week, the cause is usually at the till or at goods-in, not on the shelf.

Where this fits

Barcodes in Winstia aren't only for counting. The same codes are scanned at the point of sale, so labelling your stock once speeds up checkout too. Stock adjustments sit next to your sales, purchases and double-entry accounts, so stock and the books draw from the same records.

No stock count is perfect. The aim is a count where every difference is visible, explained and dated, instead of quietly typed over.

Want to see it with your own product list? Explore the features or book a demo.