Infinity POS
Inventory management that survives a real count
Infinity automatically maintains stock-on-hand as items are sold, received, adjusted or committed through a stock take. Purchase ordering, receiving and reporting all depend on that same stock record.
Specified against how the store runs. Nationwide remote implementation.
How does Infinity POS manage retail inventory?
Infinity maintains stock-on-hand from recorded stock movements and transactions. Sales, receipts, manual adjustments and committed stock takes change that figure automatically. The same inventory record is then used by reporting, purchase ordering and receiving, so the stock number is an operating value rather than a separate spreadsheet somebody has to maintain.
The practical test of an inventory system is whether a physical count agrees with it. If it does not, ordering becomes guesswork and the cash tied up in stock is invisible.
- One item file, not severalA second list is a second version of the truth.
- Receiving is a recorded eventStock that arrives without being received is stock nobody can trust.
- Counts correct the fileWhen a stock take is committed, Infinity updates stock-on-hand.
- Ordering reads the same figurePurchase decisions are only as good as the stock number behind them.
Inventory accuracy is a process as much as a system. A file nobody receives against will drift no matter what software sits behind it, which is why item file setup and training are part of an implementation.
What it does
The parts of inventory control
Each of these is its own page, because each is its own job.
Purchase orders and receiving
Purchase ordersMin/max levels can help determine order quantities, and quantity-on-order falls as stock is received.
Stock takes and counts
Stock takeCounting a department without closing the store.
Reporting on movement
ReportingWhat sells, what sits, and what margin each line actually earns.
Shelf labels from the same file
Label printingA scheduled price change can print labels as part of the update, keeping the label workflow tied to the item record.
Who relies on it
Where inventory control matters, and the devices that feed it
Every retail trade runs inventory from the item file. What it has to get right differs by trade, and so do the devices that record each movement.
Grocery stores
Grocery POSDepartments, with fresh and packaged stock counted and reported in the same item file.
Convenience stores
Convenience POSA long list of fast movers, where singles, packs and cases have to be set up and checked before a count can be trusted.
Liquor stores
Liquor POSMany similar bottles and sizes, where the count and the margin on each line depend on every delivery being received.
Specialty retail
Specialty retail POSA deep catalog where slow lines tie up cash, and movement reporting shows which ones.
Scanning at the counter
Barcode scanning and labelsA barcode points each sale back to its item record, which is why that record has to be right before scanning helps.
Counting and receiving in the aisle
Portable data collectorsA portable data collector records counts and deliveries at the shelf, against the same item file, where the store’s setup supports it.
What inaccurate inventory actually costs
-
The count never agrees with the system
Ordering is guesswork and shelves gap on the lines that sell.
Receiving, transfers and counts all write to the one item file.
Stock take -
Cash is tied up in stock nobody is buying
Working capital sits on a shelf instead of in the bank.
Movement reporting shows what is not moving, by line.
Reporting -
Deliveries are checked against a paper note
Short deliveries go unnoticed and are paid for anyway.
Receiving against the purchase order, so the variance is visible.
Purchase orders -
Nobody trusts the number, so a second list appears
Two versions of the truth and an argument about which one is right.
One file, and a count that corrects it rather than competing with it.
Item file setup
In a demo
What to ask to see in an inventory demo
Ask for these in a demo, because each one shows the stock figure being produced rather than described.
A delivery received, then counted
Stock takeAsk to see a delivery received against its order, a department counted afterward, and the stock figure the count leaves behind.
One item’s history
Ask to see what was received, what sold and what the last count found for one item, and how the on-hand figure follows from them.
The lines that are not moving
ReportingAsk to see which lines have stock on hand and no recent sales, by department.
Inventory questions
Can I count a single department?
Yes. Counting by department or category is how most stores do it, because closing the whole shop to count everything is rarely practical.
Does the system handle transfers between locations?
Yes, and the transfer is a recorded movement rather than an adjustment at each end, which is what makes the two sites reconcile.
What happens to my existing item file?
It is converted where the current system can export it, and cleaned as part of setup. We look at an actual export rather than guessing what will come across.
How accurate should I expect inventory to be?
That depends far more on receiving discipline than on software. A system records what it is told; the value comes from everything being told to it.
Tell us how stock is handled today
How deliveries are received, how often anything is counted, and what the item file lives in now. That is enough to say what changes.