Inventory and returns supervision

We trace the stock the group holds and every item that comes back. A named lead sets the count calendar, reviews each variance between system and shelf, and follows returned goods from the customer's refusal to a decision: back on sale, repair, supplier claim or write-off.

• A cycle-count calendar by location and category, with the counters and the checker named.
• A variance register recording each difference between system and shelf, with a cause and a decision.
• A returns status board: received, inspected, restockable, claimable or written off, by age.
• A monthly stock and returns report: accuracy, ageing, recovery and write-off value by category.
• A returns decision guide for the warehouse, giving the rule for each reason code.

• Stock record accuracy is reported by location after every count.
• Write-offs reach the board by cause, in value, so repeat causes get fixed.
• Returned goods carry a status and an age, and the days from receipt to decision are on the monthly report.
• Returned stock goes back on sale by rule.
• Each variance carries a documented cause, and the share that do is a standing measure.

Stock records drift from the shelf, and returned goods sit in a corner, unrecorded, until they expire or are sold at a loss. Refunds are paid before the item is checked, and finance books an adjustment at year end that nobody can trace to a cause.

• Stock counts differ from the system and the gap is written off without a cause.
• Returned items have no status and no owner.
• Refunds are issued before returned goods are inspected.
• Short-dated stock is found after it has expired.
• The same item shows different quantities in the store, warehouse and provider reports.

Retailers, grocers and online merchants with stock in one or more warehouses, stores or provider sites, where returns and refused deliveries are growing and no one is responsible for what happens to them.

Qasim Abbas has spent more than 16 years inside Gulf family-based and venture-backed groups, so he reads write-offs and returns as margin lines before he reads them as warehouse tasks. We report them to your board the same way.

We work with the group's inventory or order system, the ledger for adjustments and the warehouse reports of any provider. See how fees work.

Can this cover stock held by a 3PL?

Yes. We reconcile the provider's reports to the group's records and arrange observed counts at the provider's site.

What happens to returned goods that cannot be resold?

The decision guide sets the route by reason code, and the write-off value is reported to the board by cause so that repeat causes can be fixed.

Tell us where stock is held and how returns are handled today, at a private briefing. We return the first count plan for your largest site and the status board your returns would run on.