Convenience store inventory management
- Shrink: book stock less the count
- $1,000
- Cost of goods the sales imply at that margin
- $120,000
- Book stock: what the count should have found
- $40,000
- Shrink as a share of sales, percent
- 0.625
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Rollupvo publishes no tax rule, no accounting standard, no margin and no par: the lead times, the safety weeks, the margins and the ownership shares are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
The figures above start from a worked example ($1,000). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Convenience store inventory management worked example (CSV)
This is a convenience store count sheet, the arithmetic that turns a stocktake into a shrink figure. Opening stock plus purchases, less the cost of goods the period's sales imply at your gross margin, is the book stock the count should have found; the count you did find, subtracted, is shrink, and shrink over sales is the share of the till that went missing. The actual cost of goods, opening plus purchases less the count, over average stock is the turns. Every figure is yours, including the margin; the sheet publishes no rate. Free, on the page, no account; the paid plan keeps every count against the store it was taken in.
Book stock, what the count should have found
$160,000 of sales at a 25% margin cost $120,000 in goods; $42,000 opening plus $118,000 bought less that $120,000 leaves $40,000 the shelves should hold. That is book stock, and it is only as good as the margin entered, which is why the margin is an input and not a constant.
Shrink, the gap between book and the count
Finding $39,000 against $40,000 of book stock is $1,000 of shrink, 0.625% of sales on the worked example. The sheet works the dollars and the share so the number is comparable count to count and store to store. What is theft, breakage, mis-keyed transfers or a wrong margin is the owner's investigation, not the sheet's.
Turns, on the actual cost of goods
Opening plus purchases less the count is what the period actually consumed, $121,000 on the example, and over the average of opening and closing stock it is three turns. Turns per period is the figure an owner of several stores compares across them; the sheet returns it whole.
Convenience store inventory management: common questions
How do I calculate shrink from a convenience store inventory count?
Work book stock first: opening stock at cost, plus purchases at cost, less the cost of goods your sales imply at your gross margin. Subtract the count. The difference is shrink in dollars, and over sales it is shrink as a share of sales. The free sheet on this site works both from five figures with no account.
What gross margin should I enter?
Your own, on the mix sold in the period. The worked example uses 25% to show the arithmetic and nothing more. A margin that is too high understates cost of goods and reports shrink that is not there; a margin that is too low hides it. The sheet publishes no rate and shows what any margin implies.
Does the sheet handle several stores?
One store per sheet, so the shrink and the turns are comparable store to store. Rollupvo Pro keeps every count against the store it was taken in, dated, with the transfers between stores filed beside them so a gap that is really an unkeyed transfer can be found.