For retail and distribution centres
Stocktaking for retail warehouses that live and die on peak.
At a 65,000 pallet retail site in Mechelen, put away errors fell 95% and stocktaking cost fell 90%, with break even in three months. That is what continuous counting is worth in a warehouse where high SKU churn and an out of stock line hit revenue directly.
Where retail inventory actually breaks
SKU churn and put away errors compound each other.
A retail distribution centre does not have one stable inventory to keep accurate, it has a moving one. New lines arrive, seasonal ranges come and go, and every put away error made this week is a discrepancy someone finds during picking next week, usually as an unexpected out of stock.
- Put away accuracy sets the ceiling on everything downstream. A pallet filed in the wrong bay reads as missing until somebody finds it, and at Mechelen fixing this cut put away errors by 95%.
- High SKU churn means the count is never really finished. An annual wall to wall stocktake is already out of date by the time seasonal ranges turn over again, which is why continuous cycle counting suits retail better than a single annual event.
- An out of stock is a revenue event, not a stock event. Clients and customers alike judge a distribution operation on whether the right stock is in the right place when it is needed. Frequent client audits exist because the cost of getting this wrong lands on someone's sales line.
- Peaks compress a year of variability into a few weeks. Whatever inaccuracy a site tolerates the rest of the year gets tested hardest in the weeks it can least afford it.
The peak season answer
Rent the extra count, not the extra headcount.
Peak volume does not need a bigger annual contract. It needs one more recording unit, on a monthly rental, for the weeks that matter.
Peak
An extra recording unit for a seasonal peak, on top of your existing Site or Network tier. Handed back when the weeks that need it are over.
Full pricing for the Site, Network and Enterprise tiers, plus how Peak sits alongside them, is on the pricing page. Day to day, most SKU churn is caught by continuous cycle counting rather than by waiting for the next scheduled count.
Measured across retail sites
Six retail and fashion sites, one pattern.
| Location | Pallet locations | Accuracy after go live | Value realised | Break even |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duisburg, Germany | 30,000 | 99.9% | 95% lower stocktaking cost, 90% fewer loading errors | 1 month |
| Bremen, Germany | 35,000 | 99.5% | 85% lower stocktaking cost, 90% fewer loading errors | 3 months |
| Mechelen, Belgium | 65,000 | 99.99%+ | 95% fewer put away errors, 90% lower stocktaking cost | 3 months |
| Venlo and Roermond, Netherlands | 85,000 combined | 99%+ | 95% lower stocktaking cost | 4 months |
| Willebroek, Belgium | 29,000 | 99.99% | Contract renewed, 90% lower stocktaking cost, 9 point accuracy gain | 5 months |
| Horsens, Denmark | 40,000 | 99%+ | 85% lower stocktaking cost, 90% fewer loading errors | 6 months |
What a retail team acts on is the list rather than the total. The four discrepancy types, a pallet in the wrong place, a pallet not on the WMS, an empty location where stock is expected and an expected pallet missing, are exportable, and each line opens the recording behind it.
Questions we get asked
Before you plan next season around this.
Can we scale up just for peak and back down afterwards?
Yes. The Peak add on rents a second recording unit at €5,760 a month for the weeks you need it, on top of your existing Site or Network tier, and you hand it back once the peak ends rather than paying for spare capacity all year.
Will counting slow down picking during peak?
No. A 20 minute run covers 500 to 1,000 pallets and is normally driven during a break, so counting through peak does not mean pulling people off fulfilment to go and check stock.
How does this help with out of stock situations specifically?
By catching put away errors and location mismatches before a picker discovers them mid order. At Mechelen, put away errors fell 95%, which is exactly the category of error that turns into an unexpected out of stock.
Do we need to run this all year, or only at peak?
Most retail sites run it as continuous cycle counting all year, because SKU churn does not stop when peak ends, and add Peak rental for the extra weeks. See cycle counting for how the ongoing pattern works.
Next step
Plan this season's peak with real numbers, not a guess.
A 30 minute demo covering put away accuracy, continuous cycle counting and where Peak rental fits your calendar.