Retail

Learn the fundamentals of stock management in the retail industry along with the best practices in receiving and offloading delivered stocks to your store. 

In the retail industry, stock management is considered one of the most vital tasks in operating a store.


You can think of it as a complicated art of holding the products in store for our store's customers — that's stock management.


In order to reach the optimum level of stocks needed in our store branches,** efficient stock management is definitely important**!


What are the 3 types of stocks?


Stock Management

Stock Levels, Ratio, and Control Systems


As a continuation of the "Stock Management" lesson that you previously completed, we'll be discussing Stock Levels, Ratio, and Stock Control Systems this time.


Stock Levels refer to the number of products kept in the store that needs to be managed to avoid under or overstocking.


Stock Ratio is a way to measure how efficiently a store is managing its investment in stocks.


Meanwhile, Stock Control is the process of maintaining the right amount of stock.
This helps us meet our customer demands without delay and keeping the costs of holding stock to a minimum.


The reorder level is the stock level at which our store will need to place a new order of stocks to prevent an item from stocking out.
This level depends on a company’s work-order lead time.
Lead time is the time it takes our suppliers to produce and deliver our store's order.
Identifying the correct reorder level is important in managing a store.
If our store places a new order too soon, we might receive the ordered units earlier than expected and it would have to bear additional carrying costs such as storage and insurance!


Knowing the re-order level


In using this system, stocks are divided into three categories (A, B, C) according to the importance of sales value
High-value stocks get the most management attention
for stock control!


Stock Levels, Ratio, and Control Systems 

Aside from knowing the fundamentals of stock management, it is also important to learn how to receive stocks in our store once they have been delivered.


Are you ready? Hit continue to learn more!


In this lesson, we'll break down the steps needed when receiving stocks from our suppliers in our store.


The first step in receiving and storing stock is to identify the expected stocks to be delivered to our store for the day.
This has to be done in order for you to be prepared for these deliveries and know what to expect.
Most of the time, managers or department heads of our stores are the ones who placed the orders for these deliveries.
It is important to know who places the orders as we'll need to contact them as well to follow up on the deliveries.
For example -- to advise them a certain item was not delivered or to verify a delivery that has arrived was actually ordered.
Delivered stocks and invoices must be checked against the Purchase Order to ensure everything ordered has been delivered.


Identifying the Incoming Stocks


Select the actions that must be done when preparing our store's stock receiving area


**Checking the stocks received against stocks ordered **


Another check that needs to be made when stocks are delivered is to ensure the items delivered match the items ordered.


It is standard practice not to accept items which have not been ordered -- remember:
All stocks received must be checked to ensure that they're in good quality, not damaged, and is suitable for sale!


All deliveries will be accompanied by some form of
documentation such as delivery dockets.
You will be required to sign them as proof you have received the items listed on the documentation.


Be aware that delivery drivers are very busy and don't like being kept waiting while you check the delivery.
This means they will often attempt to pressure you into signing immediately so they can get going and do their next delivery.


Should that scenario occur, you have to stand firm and insist you will not sign until everything has been checked.


Another option is to get consent from the company they're delivering from to sign the delivery docket and add 'STC' (Subject To Check) to it.
This means you are signing to say you have accepted the delivery but have not verified its actual content.


The delivery docket will state:
The number of boxes/cartons, drums, or items delivered
A brief description of the goods.
The delivery docket does not normally contain a detailed description of the goods and does not list the prices for each item.


Your signature on a delivery docket confirms that the delivered stocks are in satisfactory condition.


Receiving Inventory

After receiving the stock delivered to our store, it must then be transported to the appropriate storage or operational area as required.


Stocks must be moved promptly to allow space for further deliveries since the delivery area is a bottleneck for stock movement.
It can quickly become disordered if stocks are not moved quickly from the area!


Moving the stocks to the right storage area helps to avoid confusion when checking stocks as It can be hard to distinguish the orders if the receiving area is cluttered.


Remember: All items should be transported to the right storage area promptly, safely, and without damage!


Check to ensure no pests, rodents, vermin, or dirt is introduced into the store through the items that you're unpacking.


Verify items look suitable for the purpose they are to be used for with your five senses, a combination of industry knowledge, and common sense.
Clothing items are in their expected/correct color; if you know that the shirts ordered were whites, it would be a concern if you see that they're yellowish after unpacking.
Produce items are fit for their purposes - this involves checking fruit and veggies delivered  are free from blemishes and bruises


Ensure that the items you unpacked match the information indicated in their packaging.


Adhere to the "full box/carton" policy in storage areas where this is an internal requirement.
This means only unopened and full boxes and cartons are kept in that place
This stops the potential for staff to steal one item from an open carton believing "no-one will miss just one".


Food storage has special importance as we're required to maintain the safety of the food.
There are three basic methods of food storage which are:
Dry Goods Storage
Refrigerated Goods Storage
Frozen Goods Storage


Dry Goods Storage:
This is a storage method that does not use refrigerators and is used to keep canned and dried food. Ensure:
The area is free from vermin and flies to minimize contamination
The area is well ventilated and lit so our store staff can see what they're doing and identify spillage and infestation problems


Refrigerated Goods Storage:
This method is used for fruit and vegetables, dairy products, and meat. It can be done in cool rooms, domestic refrigerators, or under-counter refrigeration units. Ensure:
The area temperature is kept at 5°C or below and must be checked with an independent thermometer once a day
The fridge or cool room door is closed between uses and minimize opening times by planning
The storage area is not overcrowded so the air can circulate freely around food items


Frozen Goods Storage:
This method keeps the food items "hard frozen", -15 ̊C to -18 ̊C is the recommended temperature range for this method. Ensure:
That every time you use the freezer, always check the temperature and notify management where there is a problem
Do not overload them as it takes too long for the middle of products to freeze
To regularly defrost freezers to maintain operating effectiveness
Freezer doors are kept closed when they're not in use


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