Inventory Management Checklist
Weekly inventory management workflow run by store managers and inventory leads to keep on-hand counts accurate, control shrink, and catch receiving and cycle-count variances before they hit the P&L.
Demand Planning and Forecasting
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Pull sell-through and weeks-of-supply by SKU
Export the sell-through report from Lightspeed, Shopify POS, or NetSuite for the trailing 4 weeks. Flag SKUs with WOS under 2 (reorder candidates) and over 12 (markdown candidates). The inventory planner owns this pull.
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Review GMROI and inventory turn by department
Departments turning under 3x annually are usually overbought; over 8x are likely understocked and losing sales to stockouts. Compare against the buyer's plan and last year's same-week numbers.
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Adjust the forecast for seasonal demand
Layer in known promo events, holiday windows, and prior-year sell curves. Buyers commonly forget transitional weeks — back-to-school tail, post-holiday clearance ramp — which is where forecast misses hurt margin most.
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Submit replenishment POs to the buyer
Receiving and Putaway
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Count cartons against the BOL before signing
Never sign the BOL/POD as "OK" without a physical carton count. Vendor short-ships caught after the driver leaves rarely get reimbursed. Note any visible damage or seal breaks on the driver's copy.
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Scan UPCs and reconcile to the PO
Scan each UPC against the open PO in your inventory system. Note overages, shortages, and substitutions. The receiving associate owns the count; the manager owns sign-off.
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File a vendor claim for shortage or damage
Most vendor agreements require claims within 5-10 business days of receipt. Attach photos of damaged cartons, the signed BOL with exceptions noted, and the discrepancy report from the scan.
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Receive stock into the inventory system
Post the receipt in Lightspeed, Shopify, or NetSuite so available-to-sell updates. Delays here cause oversells on the e-comm channel — a common BOPIS gotcha when receiving lags behind floor placement.
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Tag with EAS sensors before stockroom putaway
Source-tag at receiving rather than at floor placement — Sensormatic or Checkpoint hard tags on high-shrink categories (denim, fragrance, small electronics). Tagging at the floor is where shrink leaks in.
Stockroom Organization
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Bin new SKUs to assigned stockroom locations
Follow the bin map so pickers and BOPIS associates can find product on first pass. Floating stock — boxes parked in aisles "temporarily" — is the leading cause of phantom stockouts at the register.
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Rotate stock using FIFO for dated product
For grocery, beauty, and consumables, pull older receipts forward and put new stock at the back. Check expiration windows on every restock pass and pull anything within the markdown window per category SOP.
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Sweep stockroom aisles and inspect for damage
Cycle Count and Variance Review
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Run the weekly cycle count for high-velocity SKUs
Rotate the count list so A-items (top 20% by velocity) are counted monthly, B-items quarterly, C-items annually. Use a handheld scanner; blind counts (counter doesn't see system on-hand) catch more variance than confirmation counts.
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Investigate variances over the dollar threshold
Variances over $100 or 3% of category on-hand get investigated before adjustment. Common causes: receiving miscount, mis-scan at register (similar SKUs), mis-binned in stockroom, internal theft, sweethearting at the register. Adjusting without investigating hides the shrink trend.
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Post inventory adjustments to the GL
Manager approval required on adjustments over the threshold defined in the cash-and-inventory SOP. Adjustments hit COGS or shrink expense per the chart of accounts — confirm the coding before posting in QuickBooks or NetSuite.
Shrink and Loss Prevention
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Open a shrink investigation with loss prevention
Pull CCTV (Verkada, Solink, Genetec) for the affected SKU's location over the last 14 days. Cross-reference high-refund cashiers, void rates, and no-sales from the POS exception report. LP manager owns the investigation file.
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Review the POS exception report for refund fraud
Flag cashiers with refund rates above store average, repeated no-receipt returns, or post-void patterns. Sweethearting and refund fraud are the two largest internal-shrink vectors and only show up in exception reporting.
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Test EAS gates and deactivators at the entrance
Walk a tagged item through the gates to confirm trigger; pass a deactivated item to confirm clean exit. Dead gates and dead deactivators both bleed shrink — and the latter creates angry customers at the next retailer's gates.
Markdown and Reporting
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Identify aged inventory for markdown
SKUs over 12 weeks of supply or past the second markdown trigger date go on the markdown list. Verify margin against the category cost-protection floor before approving — markdowns below cost require district manager sign-off.
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Sign off on the weekly inventory report
Final review by the store manager covers turnover by department, week-over-week shrink, open vendor claims, and markdown impact on margin. Submit to the district manager for the Monday district call.
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