Inventory Management

Keep your stock accurate, automate reordering, and track every inventory movement across your business.

8 min read6 sections

Stock Tracking Basics

PosStar automatically tracks inventory in real-time. Every sale decrements stock, every purchase order increments it. Here's what you need to know:

Automatic Deduction

When a sale is completed, stock is immediately reduced for each item sold.

Low Stock Alerts

Set a threshold per product. When stock drops below this number, you'll see a warning in the dashboard and can receive email notifications.

Stock History

Every stock change is logged — sales, adjustments, purchase orders, stocktakes — with timestamps and the user who made the change.

Managing Stock Levels

There are several ways to update your stock:

Manual Adjustment

Go to Products > select a product > Adjust Stock. Enter the quantity to add or subtract, and a reason for the adjustment.

Purchase Orders

Create a purchase order (Inventory > Purchase Orders) from a supplier. When the order is received, stock is automatically updated.

Stocktake

Use the Stocktake feature (Inventory > Stocktake) for periodic physical inventory counts. PosStar calculates the variance between expected and actual quantities.

CSV Import

Bulk-update stock levels by importing a CSV file with product SKUs and new quantities.

Purchase Orders

The purchase order workflow helps you manage supplier relationships and track incoming inventory:

  1. 1Go to Inventory > Purchase Orders > Create New
  2. 2Select a supplier (add one in Suppliers if needed)
  3. 3Add products with quantities and cost prices
  4. 4Submit the order — status becomes "Ordered"
  5. 5When goods arrive, click "Receive" to mark items as received
  6. 6Partial receiving is supported — mark received quantities item by item
  7. 7Stock is updated only for received items

Stocktake / Physical Inventory

Regular stocktakes ensure your system matches physical inventory:

  1. 1Go to Inventory > Stocktake > New Stocktake
  2. 2Choose scope: Full (all products) or Category-based
  3. 3For each product, enter the actual count from the shelf
  4. 4PosStar shows the variance (expected vs actual) for each item
  5. 5Review discrepancies and add notes where needed
  6. 6Submit the stocktake to apply adjustments
  7. 7A variance report is generated for auditing

COGS & Margins

Track your cost of goods sold and profit margins in real-time:

Cost Price

Set the cost price on each product. This is used to calculate profit margins on every sale.

COGS Report

View the COGS report under Reports > COGS/Margins. See total cost, revenue, and gross margin for any date range.

Margin Alerts

Get notified when a product's margin falls below your configured threshold (e.g., < 20%).

Weighted Average Cost

When you receive purchase orders at different costs, PosStar uses weighted average costing to keep COGS accurate.

Multi-Location Inventory

If you operate multiple stores, each store maintains its own stock levels:

Per-Store Stock

Each product has independent stock quantities per store location.

Stock Transfers

Transfer inventory between locations from Inventory > Transfers. Both stores' stock is updated.

Consolidated View

The dashboard shows total stock across all locations, with a breakdown by store.

Location-Specific POs

Purchase orders are tied to a specific store, so received goods go to the correct location.

Best Practices

  • Run stocktakes at least monthly, or weekly for high-volume stores
  • Set low-stock thresholds on your top 20% products (they generate 80% of revenue)
  • Always use purchase orders instead of manual adjustments for supplier deliveries
  • Review the COGS report weekly to catch margin erosion early
  • Use barcode scanning during stocktakes for speed and accuracy
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