Transfers are the event that breaks everything
When goods move between branches, one location loses stock and another gains it, and those two entries are made by different people at different times. Every mismatch surfaces weeks later at a stock count, when nobody can reconstruct what happened.
The fix is a transfer document with two states: dispatched, then received. Stock in between belongs to neither branch and is visible as in-transit.
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Shrinkage is a measurement problem before it is a theft problem
Most retailers assume unexplained losses are theft. Often a large share is process — goods received but never entered, returns put back on the shelf without a record, damaged items removed informally, transfers recorded once instead of twice.
The two causes have opposite remedies, and you cannot tell them apart until recording is reliable. That is what the system buys you: not catching theft, but making the remaining loss meaningful.
The point of sale is a data source, not the system
The till is the input device. What matters is whether every sale, return, transfer and receipt lands in one stock ledger all branches share.
So ask what the till writes and where. A till that holds local stock figures and reconciles overnight is a different operation from one that posts to a central ledger, and the difference shows when two branches need the same number at the same time.
Pricing across branches needs a rule and an exception log
The system should hold a central price with controlled deviation, so a branch difference is a decision rather than an accident.
- A base price list applied to every branch by default
- Branch-level overrides that are recorded as overrides, with who approved them
- Promotions with start and end dates, so an expired price cannot survive at one location
- Discount authority by role, so the limit is enforced at the till rather than reviewed later
- Margin visible per branch and per item, so a local price decision can be judged
Reorder is per branch, not per company
A company-level figure reads plenty in one branch and none in another as adequate stock. Reorder levels belong to the branch-item pair, and the first question when a branch runs low is whether another branch is overstocked — a transfer is faster and cheaper than a purchase.
What to fix first
Receiving first: goods entered wrongly poison every number downstream. Then transfers, then stock counts as a routine rather than an annual event.