Convenience Store Inventory Loss Prevention

Inventory loss prevention is key to profit preservation. Profit preservation is the difference between succeeding and failing. Regular physical counts are the answer. Item level counts will either give you confidence that your losses have been minimized or show you exactly where the loss is occurring item by item. Point of Sale system quantities can become inaccurate over time as a result of process breakdown. Inventory audits that produce results that can be uploaded to the Point of Sale system can square up your POS and help ensure order accuracy. 

At Monarch, we understand all aspects of the liquor store and c-store operation from purchasing, to stocking, to merchandising, to the Point of Sale system. Understanding the nuances of retail operation ensures that we can identify and count the inventory accurately.

Ownership Transition Inventory Loss Prevention

Are you losing profit to theft, to inventory loss?

Have you ever looked at your pantry and wondered “Where did the snacks go?”  You remember seeing them in the pantry earlier in the week, but wonder if they were eaten by your teenage children or maybe they just got moved to another shelf.  You may even go back to your grocery receipts to make sure you actually purchased them at the grocery store.  In a convenience store, knowing what is happening with your inventory is the difference between life and death for your business.  Impulse buying is the cornerstone of which SKUs you select to sell, and as a result, your inventory is highly desired.  In the extreme scenario, to the unscrupulous employee, customer, or vendor, this can lead to theft.  However, when inventory “appears’ to be missing, there are a number of other processes that must be investigated before assuming the worst.  For example, were invoices received in the wrong department?  Did the credits get deducted from the book balance?  Are the processes in place to ensure that what was purchased was actually delivered in the order?  There are a number of moving parts to monitor in a C-Store operation.  The more stores you have in your operation, the more complex it is to keep track of all the moving parts.

Inventory Services

We're Here to Help with Convenience Store Inventory Loss Prevention

At Monarch, we have been helping c-store businesses maximize their profits for over 35 years.  In fact, C-stores are where Monarch began, and we have been refining our processes and technology from the beginning to develop a set of robust processes that we can share with you to evaluate for your business.  We have a variety of tools that provide you with the ability to analyze your operation at both items level and department level.  We have verification tools that provide you with full transparency into our results.  With our approach, problems bubble to the top which allows you to see and confirm inventory swings quickly.  Once final results are received you can quickly compare results to your book balances and calculate your margins to ensure products is running through your point of sale system as opposed to walking out the back door.

Process

  • Analyze Point of Sale: First, we will identify and analyze the Point of Sale to understand item data structures and import/export processes.  There is a wealth of information here that can be utilized to enhance the overall process.
  • Analyze Departments: Next, we will learn through listening to an explanation of your departments, how you delineate your inventory by department, and what margins are used to establish retail pricing for each department.
  • Establish Process: Then we will recommend a process based upon best practices to confirm with you that it will align with your objectives.
  • Automate: We will then use our state-of-the-art technology to automate the approved process and deliver clean, actionable data to your operation.
  • Analyze: Next, we will provide a comparison of our physical results as it compared to your system balance on hand or book balance to pinpoint exactly where the problems exist.

  • Implement: Finally, the results will be uploaded or input into your financial system for accurate accounting of what you have at any moment going forward as you continue to receive and sell product.
Point of Sale System

Your Inventory Service Questions Answered

Get answers to your most common questions from Monarch

Do I need to perform a third-party inventory on a regular basis?

A regular inventory count will give you consistent data that can be reviewed for trends and patterns. How often you should do an inventory count depends on your unique situation. Some stores require a monthly inventory, others manage quarterly counts or even annual ones. We can help determine what schedule makes the most sense for your business goals.

Do I have to be on site for the inventory?

No, but we encourage involvement from ownership or management. If something comes up and we need to discuss the results of the count with you or an assigned representative, we’ll want to coordinate a process for that. We’ll need to know who can approve the final count numbers and who needs to receive the results.