Stock Take (Inventory Audit)

Overview

A stock take (inventory audit) helps you verify what’s physically in your store versus what Ribbn says should be there. This workflow uses two tags—one to mark items you physically counted, and another to flag items for investigation—so you can quickly identify missing items and resolve discrepancies.

Use a **unique stock take tag** each time you perform an audit (for example, `stocktake2026-03-13`). This ensures results are traceable to a specific day.

When to use this process

Use this stock take workflow when you need to:

Confirm on-hand inventory across shop floor + stockroom
Identify items that are missing (expected in-store but not physically found)
Prepare for cycle counts, reconciliations, or internal audits

Tagging strategy (recommended)

You’ll apply two tags:

Tag type	Purpose	Example
Stock take tag	Marks items you physically found and counted	`stocktake2026-03-13`
Investigation tag	Temporarily flags items that should be present until proven otherwise	`Investigate-mar-13-26`

Avoid reusing old investigation tags (for example, reusing `Investigate-feb-25`). Reuse can cause confusion and inaccurate “missing” results across multiple audits.

Step-by-step stock take process

Step 1: Tag all items currently in stock

Go through your entire inventory:
- Shop floor
- Stockroom
As you physically find each item, apply one of the following:
- A collection tag, or
- A custom tag such as stocktakeXXDATE

Key guidance: Use a unique tag so you can clearly identify the items counted on that specific day.

Step 2: Apply a bulk investigation tag

In the Admin Dashboard, filter your inventory to show all items that should physically be in your store.

Example statuses (depending on how you use Ribbn):
- Listed
- In Quality Control
- Clearance
- Liquidation Ready
- Liquidation Requested
Apply a new investigation tag to the filtered items:
- Select all filtered items
- Click Actions > Add Tag
- Add a tag like Investigate-feb-25

The investigation tag should be applied to the “expected to be present” set. This becomes your baseline list.

Step 3: Identify missing items

Clear your filters.
Set a new filter for your stock take tag (the tag you applied in Step 1), for example stocktakeXXDATE.
Remove the investigation tag from all items that were actually found during the stock take:
- Select all filtered items
- Click Actions > Remove Tag
- Remove Investigate-feb-25

Result / interpretation

After you remove the investigation tag from the items you physically counted:

Any items still tagged Investigate-feb-25 are considered missing from your inventory.

This workflow helps you quickly spot discrepancies and take action to keep inventory accurate.

Troubleshooting & tips

Common issues

Too many items show as missing
- Confirm you filtered the correct “expected” statuses in Step 2.
- Make sure every physically present item received the stock take tag in Step 1.
Nothing shows as missing
- Verify you removed the investigation tag only from items you physically counted (Step 3), not from the entire inventory.

Best practices

Use consistent date formatting for tags (for example, stocktakeYYYY-MM-DD).
Keep investigation tags short and traceable (for example, Investigate-mar-13-26).
Store a simple internal log of each stock take:
- Date
- Stock take tag
- Investigation tag
- Who performed it