The New Feature That Will Help You Blitz Your Stocktake This Year

Hard to believe it, but it’s already June, and that means that the end of the financial year is upon us.

Like many merchants, you’re probably already thinking about (and possibly dreading) your stocktake. Well, I’m happy to share that thanks to a new feature we’ve just released, this year Neto Inventory users are going to love stocktaking.

Today we’re announcing that in Neto Inventory, users will be able to easily import stocktakes of up to 10,000 SKUs.

This new feature opens up the ability to manage the counting of your stock outside of Neto, meaning that you can quickly and easily knock it over using a barcode scanner and a stock counting app, I’ll talk more on this further down, including diving into free solutions that you can use.

For now, let’s focus on how it works in Neto once you’ve counted the stock.

How it works

The process breaks down to a few easy steps. With your stock count CSV in hand, head to the stock control section in your Neto control panel. This is where you would have created stocktakes in the past, but rather than having to do this line by line, you’ll now be able to manage the whole process simply by uploading a file.

Click the “Import completed stocktakes from CSV button” and drag in your file to kick the process off. The system supports field mapping so you will be able to pass through the data needed for the stocktake including stocktake name, location ID, location reference, product barcodes, SKUs and IDs, supplier SKUs and of course the counted quantity. The system will validate the data you’ve uploaded against the mapping, flagging any errors it finds. Once the validation is successful, it will show you a preview of the stock adjustments about to be performed as per the info you uploaded and let you ok it before finalising, and that’s it job done!

Streamline your stocktake with a scanning app

Earlier, I touched on the fact that with this release, you can now incorporate barcode scanning apps, and for me, this is probably the most exciting part of this update. Incorporating a barcode scanner in your stocktake workflow will not only speed-up the whole process, but it also will greatly reduce human error.

There’s a lot of solutions on the market that will help you do this, below I’ve provided a few that we recommend and best of all they’re free.

Stock Count

Platform: Android
Rating: 4.5/5

Stock Count is a free Stock/Inventory counting app for Android mobile devices. Use your mobile device and barcode scanner to help you perform the inventory and cycle count fast, effectively and efficiently anytime anywhere.

Features

• Scan the barcode on your product using any barcode scanner/bluetooth scanner or device camera, and the application will help you count the quantity and manage the list of your inventory.
• Create multiple counting sessions to compare the result easily.
• Supports master data upload by using CSV file (Optional), to help validate the list of valid items in your scan list during counting session.
• Send the inventory counting result to your email easily.
• Offline: All your stock count / stocktake data is stored locally on your device, supporting fast scan and validation. No internet connection is needed during stock counting process.

Orca Scan - Barcode Scanner to Excel Spreadsheet

Platform: Android, iOS
Rating: 4.8/5

Orca Scan is purposely designed to bring an end to manual stocktaking, inventory and asset tracking by replacing the need for pen, paper or an expensive hardware scanner, with an app. Just download the app and add/edit the fields you need to build your barcode solution.

Scan any barcode (QR, UPC, EAN and more); add a name, quantity, description etc. Once done, export via email as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, CSV, XML or JSON file, to be imported into your database or edited on your desktop.

Features:

• Scan all major barcodes including QR, UPC, EAN, Aztec
• Continuous/batch scan mode, removing the need to tap for each scan
• Manually add items
• Scan a barcode value directly into a field
• Re-order fields
• Automatic duplicate detecting and merging
• Export barcodes in CSV, HTML, JSON or XML format
• Export barcodes via SMS, Email, AirDrop
• Audible or vibrate confirmation of a successful scan
• Portrait and landscape scanning mode
• Full-text search barcode list by name or barcode
• Integrated torchlight
• Simplistic user interface (no training required)

Barcode to Sheet

Platform: Android, iOS
Rating: 4/5

This free Barcode scanner allows effortless entry and maintenance of products and services details. The app also helps you create custom forms and save the data in CSV, XML and Excel formats.

Features

• Create 15+ column types like Auto date and time, longitude, and latitude, auto email, web URL etc. to make the data entry easier
• Export the files in the pre-defined templates
• Application allows you to scan, read or capture any of the major code scanning systems including QR code scanning, ISBN scanning, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, text, URL scanning, Product Attributes, Calendar events and much more
• The spreadsheet can be downloaded to the SD Card or it can be emailed from your phone
• The row and column names can be edited any time in the sheet as per the requirement

Barcode To CSV

Platform: Android
Rating: No rating data

Barcode To CSV turns your smartphone into a mobile barcode scanner, which is a useful tool especially for inventory management purpose. All data will be saved into your smartphone storage and will be cleared once the data is exported to a CSV file.

Features:

• User is able to define the barcode settings and the CSV file will be exported accordingly
• Barcodes can be scanned continuously and stored locally till the user decides to export
• Incorrect barcode data can be deleted

Mobile Inventory FREE

Platform: Android
Rating: 4/5

Mobile Inventory FREE supports the creation of multiple, user-defined, barcode-based lists.

Features

• The application enables item barcode input via keyboard, Bluetooth barcode scanner or built-in camera.
• Data can be imported from, Excel tables, CSV files and directly from MS SQL or MySQL database over WI-FI
• Inventory lists can be exported as a CSV file, which can be sent by email

The apps we’ve shared here are just the tip of the iceberg on what’s available. I recommend researching on your device of choice’s app store, to find one that suits your needs.

Available now

Our new import stocktake is feature is live now and available to all Neto Inventory users. If you’re not using Neto Inventory, I recommend you speak to our success team to learn more about how it can help your business, especially at this time of year.

We're also running a free webinar on Tuesday 9th June, where our CEO will take you through this new feature and other benefits of Neto Inventory, register here to grab your place.