Inventory management in Egypt: where your stock really goes

Ask an owner how much stock they have and you will usually get two answers: what the Excel sheet says, and what is actually in the warehouse. The gap between them is money: items sold that were never recorded, transfers between branches that arrived short, damaged goods nobody wrote off, and the occasional theft.

An inventory management system closes that gap by recording every movement, so the number on the screen is the number on the shelf. Here is what that takes.

Signs you have outgrown Excel

• The sheet and the shelf disagree, and nobody can say why.
• You find out an item ran out when a customer asks for it.
• Branches call each other to ask who has stock.
• The monthly count takes days and the result is quietly ignored.
• Nobody knows the real cost of what was sold, so nobody knows the real profit.

If three of these sound familiar, a spreadsheet is no longer the right tool.

Every movement has a document

The rule that makes an inventory system work is simple: stock never changes without a record of why. Each movement is one of a few types:

1. Receiving from a supplier, against a purchase order
2. Sales, from the POS, the online store or invoices
3. Transfers between warehouses, branches or shelves, sent and then received
4. Returns, from customers and to suppliers
5. Damage and write-offs, with a reason
6. Adjustments after a count, with who approved them

If stock can change without a document, the system is just a nicer-looking Excel sheet.

A transfer is two steps, sent and received, for a reason: when ten cartons leave and nine arrive, you want to know on the day, not at the end of the year.

Items, units and locations

Good inventory data starts with a clean item list:

• One code per item, with a barcode wherever possible
• Units and conversions: bought by the carton, stored by the box, sold by the piece
• Variants such as size and colour, each with its own stock
• Locations: which warehouse, which branch, and for larger warehouses which shelf or bin

Duplicate items with slightly different names are the most common reason stock figures go wrong. Cleaning the list before you switch is worth the effort.

Stock counts that actually work

The once-a-year full count, with the business closed, finds problems twelve months too late. A better approach is cycle counting: count a few locations or item groups every week, so everything is counted several times a year and the most valuable items more often.

The system should:

• Produce a count sheet, or a count screen on a phone with a scanner
• Hide the expected quantity from the person counting, so they count rather than confirm
• Show the differences, and require approval before adjusting stock

Differences that keep appearing in the same place point to a process problem, not just a counting mistake.

Reorder points and purchasing

For each important item, set a minimum level: the stock you need to cover sales while a new order arrives. When stock falls below it, the system suggests an order, grouped by supplier.

Seasonal items and new products still need a person's judgement, but suggested orders remove the most common failure: forgetting to order until it is too late.

Cost, so you know your profit

Your accountant decides the costing method, usually a weighted average cost. The system's job is to apply it consistently on every receipt and sale, so that the cost of goods sold, and therefore profit, is right per item, per branch and per month.

Connect it to everything that sells

An inventory system that is not connected to your sales is out of date the moment it is updated. It should take sales from:

• The POS in your shops, covered in choosing a POS for shops
• Your online store, so the site never sells what you do not have
• Your accounting or ERP, so purchases and costs reach the books, as in ERP for small businesses

How these connections work is explained in connecting business systems through APIs.

Switching without losing a month

1. Clean the item list and agree on codes and units.
2. Count everything once to get a true opening balance.
3. Start with receiving and sales, then add transfers and counts.
4. Train the people who touch stock, not only the office.
5. Review differences weekly for the first two months.

KF Tech Solutions builds business systems, inventory included, and connects them to the POS, store and accounts businesses in Egypt already use. You can tell us how your stock moves today.

Common questions

Do we need barcodes?

Not on day one, but they make receiving, counting and selling much faster and far more accurate. Most items already carry a manufacturer's barcode; for the rest, the system can print labels.

Can the warehouse team use phones instead of computers?

Yes. Receiving, transfers and counts work well on a phone with a camera scanner or a small handheld scanner, which also means fewer trips back to the office.

Ready-made or custom?

A ready-made inventory module is often enough for a single shop or a simple warehouse. Custom work pays off when you have several branches, your own manufacturing or assembly, unusual units, or several sales channels that must share one stock figure.

How long until the numbers are reliable?

From the first full count, usually within one or two months of weekly review, as the team gets used to recording every movement.