Stocktake: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Make It Work
A stocktake is the process of physically counting the stock in your business. It gives you a verified picture of what you actually hold, compared to what your software says you should hold.
Australian tax law requires businesses to maintain an accurate stock-on-hand count and valuation. That alone makes a stocktake non-negotiable. But the business intelligence it produces goes well beyond compliance.
In this world of AI, accurate stock on hand data is more vital than ever because junk in your stock data will deliver junk results from AI insights about your business.
A stocktake tells you:
- The current value of your stock
- What has been stolen or gone missing since your last count
- Where your data has drifted from reality
- Which categories are worth the floor space they occupy
- Which suppliers are performing and which are not
- Whether customer or employee theft is a problem worth addressing
That is a lot of useful information. Done well, a stocktake is one of the most productive things a retail business can do.
The rolling stocktake approach
Most retailers think of a stocktake as an annual event — usually a stressful one at the end of the financial year. There is a better way.
A rolling stocktake breaks the work into sections done throughout the year. A shelf, an aisle, a product category — counted when time and staffing allow. Half an hour during a quiet period costs far less than bringing staff in after hours for a whole-of-store count.
After working with more than 3,500 local retail businesses, our experience is clear: rolling stocktakes are more accurate and more cost-efficient than annual counts. You also catch theft problems earlier, which matters.
Tower Systems POS software supports both approaches. You can count a single item, a section of the store, or the entire shop. The choice is yours.
Your store can stay open
This is something a lot of retailers do not realise. You do not need to close to run a stocktake.
Common questions:
Can the shop stay open during a stocktake? Yes.
Can I stop and start the stocktake across multiple sessions? Yes.
Can I use multiple terminals at the same time? Yes.
Can I use a handheld PDE or PDA? Yes — many brands are supported.
Can I use a laptop? Yes.
How long will it take? That depends on your product range, store layout, and how practised your team is. It gets faster over time.
How often should I stocktake? Once a year for a full count, or weekly in short sessions if you use the rolling approach.
Skip the external stocktakers
Many retail businesses still pay external stocktaking services to count their stock. In our experience, that is a poor use of money. Your stock data belongs to your business. Handing that job to an outside party adds cost and produces results that are harder to act on.
Doing your own stocktake, using your POS software, keeps that data accurate, timely, and yours.
Free stocktake workshops for Tower Systems customers
Tower Systems runs free best-practice stocktake workshops for customers. These cover how to get the most from the stocktake tools in the software, how to structure a rolling stocktake program, and how to read the results. If you have not attended one, it is worth doing.
We also offer self-serve and one-on-one training resources for customers who want to go deeper.
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