Full-Service Inventory.
What is a Full-Service Inventory?
A supervisor and a team of scanners conducts a thorough inventory from beginning to end. A small contingent of store personnel then verify the scan counts, ensuring an accurate inventory. A Bowh Auditor arrives at the store location an hour prior to the start of the inventory. The Auditor reviews the inventory process with the Store Manager and together they define and tag all merchandise areas which are to inventoried. The equipment we use is state-of-the art and our propriety scanner software “The Scan Solution” is the most versatile and user friendly software in the industry.
What are the advantages of a Full-Service Inventory?
- Save the time and energy corporate headquarter personnel and/or regional staff spend planning, training, and preparing for the inventory process.
- Eliminate the need to have headquarters personnel or regional staff attend inventories.
- Save the time and energy your store personnel would spend conducting the inventory themselves.
What are the disadvantages of a Full-Service Inventory?
- Generally speaking a full-service inventory requires the largest out of pocket expense.
- Scanners are not as knowledgeable about your merchandise.
How much will a Full-Service Inventory cost?
Our rates are simple and straight forward:
- On-Site Supervisor – $75 per hour.
- On-Site Scanners– $40 per hour.
- We bill in 15 minute increments, and ensure the entire process is done as efficiently as possible. –We only charge for on-site time, there are no rental, travel, computer set-up, file clean-up, or other hidden fees/charges.
- Time spent verifying variance reports is billed at the rates listed above, time spent checking and/or verifying variances due to errors by Bowh Personnel is free and will not be billed.
- Scanners clock in and out on an individual basis, clients are charged for each employees actual work time. This means if the fewer scanners are needed near the end of the inventory or a supervisor works with you importing files and reconciling variance reports after scanning is complete, you are charged only for the actual time each individual employee worked.
What should we do to prepare for our inventory?
- Proper preparation is the largest determining factor as to the efficiency, accuracy, and cost of your upcoming inventory:
- Ensure all merchandise has a scanable barcode label (we can provide you with a scanner loaded with your UPC/SKU file in advance to help you ensure all barcodes are scannable)
- Organize back-stock.
- Attempt to clean up any open Transfers/Purchase Orders/Anonymous Sales/Exceptions.
- Work the your Bowh Auditor to determine proper staffing levels.
- Notify your POS company of the your inventory dates by store.
- If your store is in a mall, notify mall management of anticipated extended hours.
What happens when the scanning and double counting is done?
Once the physical inventory is completed the on-site Bowh Auditor immediately creates a file preformatted and ready for import into your POS. What happens next is up to you. This is another major difference between Bowh and other inventory companies. We can either:
- Send the formatted file to your company’s home office via one of the following methods; remote file transfer, e-mail, CD disk, USB transfer to the store computer (the preferred method of many larger retailers)
- Or your on-site Auditor can immediately import the file into your POS system at the store or thru remote access to your office. Our auditors are trained an knowledgeable with most POS software. If we have not worked with your POS provider previously, we will contact them in advance to obtain the necessary physical inventory procedures for your POS system.
Can you help us make sense of the results of our inventory?
Yes – We don’t end our service with the physical inventory like many auditing companies do; we can also provide guidance and insights into how to organize and analyze your inventory results. This reconciliation process allows us to analyze the data looking for shipments, transfers, freight claim, and damage errors. By correcting these errors and accurately updating your stores’ on-hand inventory, we can improve your company’s merchandise ordering. In addition, with this information we can identify loss prevention issues such as internal or external theft. Our auditing expertise allows us to give both you and your managers the knowledge they need to complete this process and develop accurate inventory analysis skills.