Running out of stock at the wrong moment costs you the sale, the customer's trust, and sometimes the customer permanently. Here's how to manage your kirana store inventory so it never happens.
Why Kirana Inventory is Different
Kirana stores stock hundreds of SKUs with varying shelf lives, multiple suppliers, and unpredictable demand spikes (festivals, weather, local events). Manual tracking in a notebook or WhatsApp doesn't scale — you need a system.
Step 1: Know Your Fast Movers and Slow Movers
Categorise your items into fast-moving (sell daily), medium-moving (weekly), and slow-moving (monthly or less). Focus your reorder energy on fast movers — these are what customers come in for.
Step 2: Set Reorder Points
A reorder point is the stock level at which you need to place a new order. Formula: Reorder Point = (Average Daily Sales × Lead Time in Days) + Safety Stock. In Credwik, you set this once per item and get an automatic low-stock alert.
Step 3: Track Every Sale and Purchase
Every sale invoice and purchase entry in Credwik automatically adjusts your stock levels. You always know exactly how many units you have — no manual stock-taking needed.
Step 4: Do a Monthly Stock Audit
Once a month, physically count your key items and compare against Credwik's records. Discrepancies usually mean theft, damage, or an unrecorded transaction — catching these early saves money.
- Focus monthly audits on top 20% items (80% of value)
- Use barcode scanning to speed up counting
- Record damaged/expired items as wastage
- Compare supplier invoices to actual received goods