Why stocktakes go wrong on paper
A clipboard count fails for predictable reasons. Two people count the same shelf differently, handwriting gets mistyped into the spreadsheet, an aisle is skipped because everyone assumed someone else took it, and by the time the numbers are reconciled nobody remembers which figure was right. The result is a count that costs a closed shop or an overtime weekend and still leaves the books wrong.
Scanning removes the failure points one by one. The barcode identifies the product without a judgment call, the quantity is typed once at the shelf, every entry carries a name and a timestamp, and the system knows which locations are finished and which are untouched. What is left of the stocktake is walking and pointing.
How a count works in the app
You open a count for a location — the whole warehouse, one aisle, one category — and the app shows what the system expects to find there. Each team member scans shelf by shelf with their own phone, quantities are entered on the spot, and progress is visible to everyone in real time so nothing gets double-counted or skipped. When the location is closed, the platform compares counted against expected and produces a discrepancy report: exactly which products differ, by how much, counted by whom and when.
That report is the real product of a stocktake. A shortage of two mugs is not a bookkeeping annoyance — it is a signal about receiving, picking or shrinkage, and because the report points at specific shelves, the follow-up recheck takes minutes.
Offline where warehouses actually are
Cold rooms, basements and steel-racked corners are precisely where connections drop, and a counting tool that freezes without wifi gets abandoned by the second aisle. The app records every scan locally and syncs the complete session automatically when a signal returns. Your team keeps counting; the network catches up on its own.
Cycle counting: the end of the big bang
Once counting is cheap, you stop saving it for December. A rotating schedule of small counts — this week the fast movers, next week aisle four — keeps accuracy continuously high, and most discrepancies are caught weeks closer to whatever caused them. Many customers find that steady cycle counting replaces the disruptive full count almost entirely, keeping a smaller year-end confirmation for the auditors.
Part of a bigger system
Counts do not live in isolation. Corrections flow straight into the same live stock record that your inventory management runs on, adjusted availability reaches your webshop within seconds, and repeated discrepancies in one bin show up in warehouse reports where a process fix can be made. The app is the handheld end of the platform, not a separate tool with its own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Is the stocktake app really free?
Yes. The app is free to download on iOS and Android and free to use on every plan, including for counting. Paid plans add channel sync, purchase orders, multiple warehouses and other platform features around it.
Which barcodes can the camera read?
Standard retail EAN and UPC codes, QR codes and the common one-dimensional formats used on shelf and bin labels. For products that arrive without a code, the platform generates one and prints it on any label printer — see our page on the barcode inventory system.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Yes. Every scan is saved on the device and the whole count syncs automatically the moment the phone finds a signal again, so a dead zone in a basement aisle never means starting over.
What is the difference between a full count and a cycle count?
A full count covers every product at once, usually for the year-end books. A cycle count covers one slice — an aisle, a category, the fast movers — on a rotating schedule, so accuracy stays high all year without ever stopping the operation. The app supports both.
How much time does scanning actually save?
Counting by hand takes roughly forty-five seconds per item once searching, tallying and writing are included; a barcode scan takes about eight. For a catalog of a few thousand products counted quarterly, that difference adds up to whole working weeks per year.
Run your next count with phones you already own
Download the app, import your products and see a discrepancy report the same day. The app is free on every plan.
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