What is a cycle count?

Instead of one big count a year, you count a few products every day or week. Over a cycle, every product is counted at least once. Counts are quick, errors are caught while they are fresh, and the shop keeps trading.

A hardware shop carries 240 products. The owner counts 12 products each trading day, working along the shelves in order. 240 / 12 = 20 trading days, so every product is counted about once a month.

Not every product needs the same attention. Using ABC analysis, the 30 products that bring in most of the money are counted weekly, the middle group monthly and the slowest groups twice a year. The count schedule then follows the value, not the shelf layout.

• No closing day. Twelve products take about fifteen minutes.
• Errors are caught sooner. A miscounted delivery is found this week, not next year.
• Patterns show. If the same product is short each time, you know where to look.
• Less fatigue. Short counts are more accurate than a long, tired one.

A cycle count does not replace a full stocktake for year-end accounts, but it makes the full count far less painful.

The two usual ones are counting during a rush, when sales and counting disagree, and letting the schedule lapse after two weeks. Tie it to a fixed moment, such as opening time. Always count a product fully before looking at what the system expects, to avoid adjusting numbers to match.

Shopkeepa has a rapid stock count: scan or search a product, enter what you counted, and move on. The count is saved as a movement against that product, so you can count one shelf today and another tomorrow.