Most teams that struggle with inventory counting aren't counting badly. They're counting the wrong shape — running one enormous count of everything, once, when the shelf they actually worry about is the walk-in. Picking the right kind of count is the difference between a task that gets finished and one that gets abandoned at item 200.
Storage count: the default
A storage count walks one area — the walk-in, the dry store, aisle B, the parts cabinet — and nothing else. trakr shows you progress for that area, so you always know how much is left and whether it is worth carrying on before close.
This is the one to build a habit around. It is small enough to finish in a single stretch, it maps onto how your space is actually laid out, and two people can take two areas without stepping on each other. If you only ever learn one kind of count, learn this one.
Category count: when the question is about a range
A category count takes every product in one category, wherever it physically lives. That is the right shape when the question you are answering is commercial rather than spatial: how much wine do we hold, what is our exposure on one supplier, what does the fastener range actually look like before we reorder.
It is also the count to run before a price change or a supplier review, because the numbers come out grouped the way the conversation is going to be grouped.
Mixed count: for spot checks
A mixed count is any products, from anywhere. You pick them. It exists for the moment something looks wrong — the shelf reads twelve and there are clearly four, or a report flags a line that has not moved in six weeks and you do not believe it.
Mixed counts are deliberately small. Five items, ten items. Run one, close the question, get on with your day. They are not a replacement for a rhythm; they are how you stop a rhythm from drifting.
How often each one should happen
- Storage counts — weekly for fast-moving or high-value areas, monthly for everything else. Same areas, same day, so it stops being a decision.
- Category counts — before you reorder a range, before a supplier meeting, before a price change. Driven by the calendar of the business, not the stockroom.
- Mixed counts — whenever something does not add up. Ten minutes, not an event.
A rule of thumb you can hand to a new starter
Whichever you start, trakr saves as you go and lets you review everything before you finalise — so a count interrupted by a delivery or a dead phone battery is not a count lost. And all three work offline, which matters more than it sounds when the shelf you need is in a basement.