Retail & Inventory Systems
Retail problems are usually information problems. When buying, the counter, the website and the warehouse each hold their own version of the truth, staff spend their day reconciling instead of selling. We build and connect the systems that keep one accurate picture of stock and margin.
Who it helps
Where retail & inventory systems tends to fit
If more than one of these sounds familiar, the solution is likely worth a conversation.
- Retailers with more than one location who need stock to move between sites accurately.
- Businesses selling in store and online where quantity must agree across both.
- Wholesalers managing purchasing, landed cost and supplier relationships.
- Operations carrying stock they cannot readily see or value at any given moment.
Business problems
The problems this is usually brought in to solve
Stock cannot be trusted
On hand figures are wrong often enough that staff physically check before promising anything to a customer.
Buying is guesswork
Replenishment relies on experience and a stocktake, so some lines sit for months while others run out.
Returns and credits go astray
Returned goods are processed inconsistently, which affects stock, supplier credits and margin reporting.
Margin is only clear at year end
Nobody can see which products or locations are actually profitable until the accountant reports.
Services and capabilities
Core capabilities and optional additions
Core capabilities are part of a typical build. Optional additions are included only when the agreed scope calls for them. What you receive in the end depends on the scope we agree together, so treat this as the menu rather than the order.
Core capabilities
- Stock visibility across locations, including stock in transit
- Purchasing with purchase orders, receipts and supplier management
- Cost tracking including landed cost and price changes over time
- Barcode and label workflows for receiving, transfers and stocktakes
- Point of sale integration so counter sales update stock immediately
- Multi location stock transfers with checks along the way
- Replenishment suggestions based on sales history and lead times
- Returns handling for customer returns and supplier credits
- Stocktake tooling, including cycle counts rather than full shutdowns
- Margin and sales reporting by product, category, location and period
Optional additions
- Serial or batch tracking for goods that need traceability
- Supplier portal for order confirmations and delivery updates
- Bundles, kits and assembly handling
- Demand planning for seasonal ranges
- Integration with an existing warehouse or third party logistics provider
Anything listed as optional is quoted separately and only built if you decide it is worth having.
What an engagement can include
How a scoped project is put together
Not every project needs every step. This is the shape a typical engagement takes, and the scope you agree selects the parts that apply.
- 1Discovery covering locations, product range, purchasing process and current systems
- 2Data review of product records, costs and pricing structure
- 3Design of the inventory model and the workflows staff will use daily
- 4Build or configuration, with a pilot location or category before full rollout
- 5Integration with point of sale, accounting and e-commerce systems
- 6Migration of the existing product and stock data, with reconciliation
- 7Training, go live support and a reporting review after the first trading cycle
Typical workflows
How it works day to day
These are the workflows this solution usually supports. Yours will be shaped during discovery.
Purchasing and receiving
- 1Replenishment suggestions are generated from sales history and current stock
- 2Purchase orders are raised and sent to suppliers
- 3Goods are received against the order by barcode, with discrepancies recorded
- 4Costs and stock are updated, and the supplier invoice is matched for payment
Multi location stock
- 1A sale or transfer reduces the quantity at the source location
- 2In transit stock is tracked rather than disappearing between sites
- 3The receiving site confirms the transfer and any difference is investigated
- 4Reporting shows accurate on hand quantities and valuations by location
Integration options
What it can connect to
Every system also has to allow the connection in the first place. Where a platform does not offer a supported way to integrate, we will tell you during discovery rather than work around it quietly.
Point of sale systems
Sales and stock movements, where the till system provides a supported interface.
Accounting platforms
Stock valuation, purchases and cost of goods sold, so finance agrees with operations.
E-commerce platforms
Quantity, price and product detail shared with online channels.
Suppliers and wholesalers
Catalogue, pricing and availability feeds, subject to what each supplier offers.
Barcode hardware
Scanners and label printers in use at each site.
Delivery and handover
What you receive, and what stays with you
- Agreed scope covering sites, systems and which parts of the process are in the first release
- Documented inventory model, so the logic behind availability and valuation is understood
- Migration and reconciliation report for the opening stock figures
- Procedures for staff covering receiving, transfers, returns and stocktakes
Security and operations
Security and operational considerations
These are the controls and habits that come with the solution. The detail is agreed for your environment during scoping.
- Role based access so counter staff, buyers and managers see only what they need
- Adjustments and write offs recorded with the user and reason
- Cost and margin information restricted to the roles entitled to see it
- Scheduled jobs monitored so a failed stock or price update is noticed
Questions
Retail & Inventory Systems questions, answered
Not necessarily. If it works for the counter and exposes stock data, we can connect to it. Replacement is only worth considering when the till system cannot provide the information the rest of the business needs.
Yes. One system is agreed as the source of truth for quantity and the others follow it, which is what stops the same item being sold twice from different channels.
Accuracy depends on discipline as much as software: receiving, transfers and returns all need to be recorded as they happen. We design the workflows and reporting that make accuracy achievable, including cycle counts instead of relying on one annual stocktake.
Yes, as a planned migration step. We review the current records, clean and map them, import in a controlled way and produce a reconciliation so you can see what changed before going live.
We size the approach to your catalogue and transaction volume, and where a range is very large we design the import, search and reporting paths accordingly rather than assuming a small dataset.
Related solutions
Often considered alongside this
- E-Commerce SolutionsStorefronts, catalogues, checkout and order management that keep stock, payments and reporting in step.View solution
- Financial Technology SolutionsFinance workflows, reconciliation, approvals, audit trails and cash flow reporting built on the systems your finance team uses.View solution
- Managed Database & DBA ServicesDatabase administration, performance tuning, backup verification, recovery testing, migrations and availability planning.View solution
Next step
Discuss your retail & inventory systems requirements
Tell us about your current systems, the people involved and what you need the outcome to be. We will suggest a scope, flag anything that needs checking first, and explain what the work involves.