{"id":20222,"date":"2025-05-19T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/inventory-counting\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T20:39:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:39:59","slug":"inventory-counting","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/inventory-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Complete Guide to Inventory Counting: Methods, Best Practices, and Tools for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You have inventory \u2013 but do you know precisely<\/em> how much you have? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be tempting for ecommerce brands to think that, as long as you have enough units to meet demand, the exact count doesn\u2019t matter. But accurate inventory counts are incredibly important, as they influence decision-making, sales, accounting, replenishment, and other key aspects of your ecommerce operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll dive deep into what inventory counting is, review some counting methods you can use, and explore best practices that will improve the inventory counting process.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is inventory counting? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Inventory counting is the process of physically counting and tallying up the number of product units you have in stock at a given time.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Inventory counting is almost always a structured process, beginning with grouping inventory, counting each individual unit of every SKU, and recording the numbers (either manually on paper and pencil or scanning product barcodes to update records in a cloud-based inventory management system).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process helps you verify whether your inventory records match your actual physical stock and identify any discrepancies in the data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is inventory counting important? <\/h2><\/div>
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Inventory counting may seem like a trivial or menial task, but it is absolutely worthwhile. This is because inventory counting helps you: <\/p>\n\n\n\n