Ask three people in a growing distribution business how much of a product you have, and you may get three answers: the system's number, the warehouse manager's number, and the number in a salesperson's spreadsheet. Each is right about something. None is the number you can promise a customer.
Why stock numbers stop being believed
- Locations are missing. Stock on vans, at project sites or at a second godown isn't tracked separately.
- Movements are not recorded. Stock moves by hand and the system finds out later — or never.
- Returns and damages go back on the shelf or in the bin without an entry.
- Counts are annual, so errors pile up for a year.
- People keep their own lists once the system is wrong a few times.
Model every place stock sits
| Location type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Warehouse | Main warehouse, regional warehouse |
| Depot / godown | Branch stock point |
| Van | Each van in van sales |
| Site | A project site |
| Showroom | Display stock |
Record every movement as a transfer
From one location to another, with what moved and who moved it. Loading a van, sending stock to a branch, issuing material to a site, bringing returns back — each is a transfer. The rule is simple: if stock moved, there is a record.
Count on a rolling cycle
Instead of one painful annual count:
- Split items into fast-moving/high-value and the rest.
- Count a slice every week, more often for the first group.
- Correct differences and note why.
- Watch for patterns — the same item always short at the same location means a missing movement.
How Zaqnet tracks stock
- Stock across locations — warehouses, depots, vans — in ControlRoom.
- Transfers move stock between them, including van loads and top-ups.
- Batches and expiry dates where products need them — see batch and expiry tracking.
- Orders from every channel draw on the same stock — see one stock pool.
- Field teams in GroundLink work from the same records.
Stock accuracy is not a counting problem. It is a recording problem that counting reveals.