Best Methods For Inventory Reconciliation In Ecommerce

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂. Here’s how to fix it. At Chubbies, we learned the hard way—bad inventory data = bad decisions. We’d think we had stock when we didn’t. We’d oversell bestsellers. We’d waste cash on inventory we didn’t need. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 $20𝘔-$50𝘔 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯—𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘴-𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭—𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘺, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. Here’s how we fixed it: 𝟭. 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. DTC, wholesale, retail stores, marketplaces—every channel pulls from the same inventory system in real-time. No more manual updates. 𝟮. 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀. We moved all core ops into a digitized system so the team could self-serve. The longer you rely on spreadsheets, the worse the data silos get. 𝟯. 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁. If a third party or internal process is creating inventory inaccuracies, don’t let it linger. Painful or not, fixing it now saves you massive headaches later. 𝟰. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆. We ran cycle counts religiously. The faster you catch discrepancies, the less they cost. If accuracy is slipping, count more often. Messy inventory data isn’t just an ops issue—it’s a profitability killer. Fix it now, or pay for it later. Ever had an inventory nightmare? Let’s talk👇 #inventory #shopify #ecommerce

This accounting error cost three of our clients over $400K in the last 6 months. Improper inventory management. Your inventory reports are lying to you.  Most brands aren't accounting for landed costs, freight, shipping, duties.  The errors add up fast, especially as you scale. Here's the bigger problem: Most brands don't reconcile inventory until the end of the year.  The discrepancy can be huge by then. You may have too little inventory.  You may have too much inventory.  Either way, you're losing money. Reports from 3rd party shipping companies show quantities, NOT values.  You're flying blind on actual costs. We always do a mid-year inventory reconciliation at minimum.  Some clients need it monthly, others quarterly.  But waiting until December is financial suicide. Brands need physical inventory counts that match their books.  You don't need to know down to the cent, but you need to know if you're bleeding cash. The scaling brands that survive are the ones that catch these discrepancies early. #inventory #accounting #ecommerce #business #scaling

Inventory transactions can be tricky. They require precision and steps that MUST be followed IN ORDER or all heck breaks loose. Did you transfer the inventory without doing the assembly build? ❌ Now you have negative inventory Did you ship the product without populating a required field? ❌ Now you have a floating SO inflating your demand Did your supplier receive inventory without confirming receipt? ❌ Now you have both an open/late PO and discrepant inventory totals There are an unfortunately large amount of ways to mess inventory up. And as we all know, once that ball gets tangled it is a HASSLE to undo (think-- digging through histories of transactions and hunting for those gaps). So what do you do? 1. Standardize the process and document each required step 2. Conduct weekly cycle counts in all inventory locations 3. Complete a monthly inventory reconciliation 4. Complete a monthly purchase order/work order reconciliation 5. If you can- put hard stops in the system for missing/required fields This is one area that requires absolute precision. The more closely and frequently this is monitored, the less likely you are to stock out or have to do adjustments. #InventoryControl #SupplyChain #Operations Thoughts?