India Retail News

Inventory Counting Practices in the Retail Segment

PCG Solutions

If you were to ask most senior retail executives, "What is the single most important measure of the success or failure of your company's loss prevention efforts?" the answer you would likely hear is, "Our shrinkage results." This would not be surprising as shrinkage results affect company profitability, shareholder return, incentive and bonus plans, and resource allocation decisions in most retail organizations. Therefore, it is a reasonable undertaking to pursue how companies measure this important metric, how often they measure it, and whether this number can be predicted and tracked throughout the year. This paper summarizes the results of a benchmark survey that focused primarily on the frequency of inventory counting and how the count was conducted.