e-skills UK Guide

Stock control

Stock control

Many small businesses sell products that are either made in house or supplied from elsewhere. It is surprisingly easy to loose track of how much stock you do have even in a small business, especially if you are assembling products from many small components. Worse still, if you do not manage your stock properly you may find that you cannot ship a large customer order as you are missing a small component worth pennies.

Simple stock control systems can be built on spreadsheets or PC databases if you have the skills. More complicated stock control systems will need to be purchased “off the shelf”. Consequently the cost of small business stock control software can vary from £50 to £5000.

Buy investing in a stock control system you will save money and time for your business.

What is a stock control system?

Before computers many stock control systems were based on good old pen and paper, maybe with postcards filed alphabetically in a small plastic holder. Probably most small business stock control systems still use pen and paper! The downside of this approach is that the records may not be as flexible or informative as a computer based system.

A PC based stock control system should enable you to quickly get to grips with it, enter all of your relevant data and then manage your stock. If the product is difficult to use or overly complicated you may find yourself abandoning the project and reverting to pen and paper.

Naturally the type of stock control system you purchase will depend on your business.  A small shop keeper will probably require a system with the ability to read barcodes but a small product assembly company may not. There are a number of stock control system vendors that target specific markets (such as retail) and build in specific features for these customers.

Features of a typical stock control system include:

● Easy to use and setup.
● Fast to process the data.
● Integration with common software such as spreadsheets and word processors.
● Integration with email systems to notify you when stocks are getting low.
● Product fields and description boxes that enable you to put in details of your products.
● Pricing options on stock held – maybe by unit or by weight.
● Ability to group products logically together.
● Enable you to integrate with pricing information and maybe an accounts package.
● Ability to increase/decrease or otherwise manage pricing across the product set.
● Instant stock check or valuation of stock in hand.
● Help with managing part delivered supplies.

For additional help on buying software or hardware check out these guides. It would be a good idea to trial software if you can to ensure it is what you are looking for. Remember that a stock system designed for a shop may be unsuitable for a small manufacturer.

Online or PC based stock control systems

It is possible to purchase stock control systems that are online (i.e. accessed via the internet) or installed on your local PC. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these approaches which you may need to consider:

Online system
● Managed by a remote company.
● All backups and “back end” security managed by the vendor.
● Usability may not be as good as a PC based solution.
● Can be accessed from anywhere there is an internet connection (home, office, airport…).
● Security may be an issue if you use it over insecure network connections.
PC base solution.
● You control the PC and software.
● You are responsible for backing up the system and technical maintenance.
● Software easier to use and more “PC like”.
● Software cannot be (easily) accessed remotely.
Many small businesses are seeing the benefits of online systems as they reduce the overall IT support burden.

Stock control system vendors

The following vendors have stock control systems that may be of use to your small business:

Orderwise

Maple Systems

Defacto Systems

Business Ware

Commercial suppliers

We do not recommend specific products or suppliers; instead we provide you with a representative sample which covers the range of suppliers/products available. You may choose to look at these suppliers or products but this is entirely at your discretion.