Inventory how-to

How often should you count inventory

Most small and mid-size stores should do a full count once or twice a year and spot-count your top sellers every month.

Short answer: Most small and mid-size stores should do a full count once or twice a year and spot-count your top sellers every month. How often you count depends on how much cash sits in that stock and how often your records drift from reality.

Why count at all

Your reorder decisions are only as good as your on-hand numbers. If Shopify says you have 40 units of a SKU and you actually have 25, you will order late and run out. Counting regularly catches damage, theft, picking errors, and receiving mistakes before they turn into stockouts or dead cash tied up in phantom stock.

A practical schedule

Do a full count once or twice a year, for example before your busy season and again mid-year. On top of that, run a rolling spot-check on your best sellers and highest-value items every month, since errors there cost you the most. Items that barely move can be checked less often, maybe once a quarter or even once a year.

What triggers an extra count

Count a SKU outside your normal schedule if you get a damaged shipment, a return that looks wrong, a sudden sales drop that does not match demand, or a supplier delivery that does not match the packing slip. These are signs your recorded quantity and your real quantity have split apart.

Keep it light

You do not need to shut the store down for this. Pick a slow day or early morning, count a section at a time, and update Shopify as you go. Small frequent counts on your top movers beat one chaotic count of everything once a year.

Step by step

  1. List your SKUs by sales value and pick the top 20 percent as your "count monthly" group.
  2. Set a recurring date each month to count that top group, even if it is just 15 minutes.
  3. Schedule one or two full counts a year, timed before peak season if you have one.
  4. Recount immediately after any damaged or mismatched delivery.
  5. Update Shopify quantities the same day you count, not later.
  6. Write down what caused any big discrepancy so you can fix the process, not just the number.

Worked example

A store sells a SKU at 6 units a day. Shopify shows 90 on hand. At a monthly spot check, the physical count is 78. That is 12 units of drift in a month, enough to throw off the reorder point calculation of 6 x (lead time 10 + safety 4) = 84 units. Catching this early means the store corrects the record before it accidentally stocks out two weeks earlier than planned.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf does not do stocktakes or cycle counts, it works off whatever on-hand number is in Shopify. Do your counts and corrections directly in Shopify so SteadyShelf's forecasts and order quantities are based on real stock, not drifted numbers.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial. Run the numbers now with the free reorder point calculator.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related guides

All inventory how-to guides ยท Inventory glossary

FAQ

Does SteadyShelf help with cycle counting or stocktakes

No. SteadyShelf does not include stocktake or cycle count tools. You count and adjust stock directly in Shopify, and SteadyShelf uses that on-hand figure for its forecasts and order suggestions.

What happens to SteadyShelf's order suggestions if my on-hand count is wrong

The order quantity formula relies on on-hand units, so a wrong count leads to a wrong suggested order, either too much or too little. Regular counts keep this input accurate, which keeps the suggestions reliable.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.

Get early access