Inventory continues to be the single biggest source of operational friction for retailers, manufacturers, and distributors, irrespective of their scale. Even companies that run on NetSuite often find themselves battling the same issues every year: slow physical counts, surprising variances, last-minute corrections, frustrated store teams, and long nights for finance.
One example is a large multi-location retailer we recently supported. Despite disciplined processes and a robust ERP, they struggled with recurring inventory discrepancies and lengthy reconciliation cycles. Enter Tvarana’s Inventory Count SuiteApp with customised solutions. In a few months, the retailer reduced count time significantly, achieved better control over variances, and brought consistency to every store location. Their story is a reminder that inventory challenges are universal, and, more importantly, solvable.
This blog breaks down why inventory count goes wrong, the financial cost of inaccuracy, practical fixes you can apply today, and how Tvarana’s purpose-built SuiteApp transforms the entire process inside NetSuite.
Common Challenges in Inventory Count Across Industries
While every operations team thinks that their inventory count challenges are unique, we’ve come to a conclusion after spending years helping teams with inventory- inventory count challenges are the same across industries. The symptoms may vary, the root causes are surprisingly consistent. Manual, disconnected, and inconsistent workflows create a fragile process where the margin for error is high. Here are the most common challenges companies encounter:
- Lack of barcoding and reliance on manual tools: Many warehouses still operate without a proper barcoding system. Teams rely on spreadsheets and clipboards, leading to data entry errors, missed bins, UOM miscalculations, and mounting stress during counts.
- Physical fatigue and limited familiarity with warehouse zones: Counting requires physically walking the facility, which can be tiresome for teams. When staff aren’t familiar with warehouse zones or item locations, they spend extra time trying to identify inventory, making the process slow, uncomfortable, and error-prone.
- Duplicate or missed scans: Teams accidentally scan items multiple times or skip entire bins without noticing.
- ERP disconnect: Since the physical count is conducted outside NetSuite, the data comes in messy and inconsistent formats. Teams then spend days cleaning, matching, and importing results back into the system.
- Lack of visibility: Managers are essentially flying blind, unsure of how far along the team is or where errors might be creeping in. By the time they find out which areas were problematic, it’s often too late to correct them without major rework.
- Inconsistent processes across locations: Every store or warehouse follows its own method for counting, which leads to mismatched results and conflicting data. Without a standardized workflow, it becomes nearly impossible to compare accuracy, reconcile discrepancies, or maintain uniform inventory practices.
- Heavy resource dependency: Inventory counts consume disproportionate human resources because the tasks are manual and tightly supervised. This not only disrupts regular operations but also increases the overall cost of counting.
These challenges don’t just create chaos. They create real financial risk, sometimes significantly affecting the annual revenue.
The Financial Toll of Inaccurate Inventory Counts
Inventory inaccuracies aren’t just operational annoyances. They have a measurable impact on revenue, cashflow, and profitability. Before working on solutions, companies must understand the risk.
- A 2023 study on distribution center performance found that inaccurate inventory records lead to stockouts, overstocking, and major inefficiencies because decisions are made using incorrect data. These operational gaps accumulate into higher costs and reduced fulfilment performance, ultimately hurting annual revenue.
- A small 2% discrepancy can reduce gross margins by nearly 10% due to write-offs and mismanaged replenishment. Overstocking for ‘assumed emergencies’ becomes common, cash gets trapped in excess inventory, and customer experience suffers because the system’s on-hand numbers don’t match reality.
This is why fixing the count process isn’t optional. It’s essential.
Quick Fixes Before Year-End: Improvements You Can Make Immediately
Even without implementing new software, businesses can significantly improve accuracy and reduce stress during year-end counts. These practical steps offer a starting point:
- Clean up your data first: Deactivate old SKUs, consolidate items, empty overhead bins where you can. If it’s in your system, someone will waste time counting it.
- Break your warehouse into zones: Don’t try to count everything at once. Segment by zones, aisles, or item type. It’s easier to manage and verify.
- Train your counters: A 30-minute “mock count” the week before, saves hours on the actual day.
- Schedule smartly: Count during low-activity hours. Freeze transactions by zone, not the whole company.
- Use smaller adjustment imports: Even in NetSuite, uploading 100,000 lines is a nightmare. Smaller imports lead to faster approvals and fewer errors.
- Stay away from handwritten inventory counting: If you cannot scan, use excel, printed sheets with as many item related information as possible.
- Use colour coding, when possible: Some simple stickers can be great to help visualize progress or statuses. Red Tag: Discrepancy > 10%, Yellow Tag: Damaged/Expired, and Green Tag: Counted/Cleared.
These fixes surely reduce symptoms but they don’t solve the underlying structural issues.
Introducing Tvarana’s Inventory Count SuiteApp: A Better Way to Count
Most businesses are not struggling because of their ERP. They are struggling because the inventory count process sits outside the ERP. Tvarana’s Inventory Count SuiteApp changes this completely.
Tvarana’s Inventory Count SuiteApp brings the entire count process into NetSuite, helping teams count faster, scan more accurately, and reconcile instantly without disrupting day-to-day operations. It’s built specifically for businesses that want accuracy without implementing a warehouse overhaul.
Here’s what sets it apart from others:
- Built 100% inside NetSuite
- No external systems or integrations
- Mobile-friendly and scanner-friendly
- Duplicate scan detection
- Real-time visibility across stores/warehouses
- Easy approval workflows
- Scalable for multi-location growth
- Zero operational disruption
It’s the easiest way to fix your count process without changing your entire warehouse setup.
Key Features That Make Inventory Count SuiteApp Faster, Easier, and More Accurate
Often, before businesses see the benefits, they experience the simplicity of this SuiteApp’s features. The design focuses on speed, accuracy, and control. Let’s take a look at its key features that simplify inventory counting like no other:
- NetSuite-native count worksheets. You don’t need spreadsheets, tedious data imports, or any manual cleanup.
- Easy barcode and QR scanning that works perfectly on handheld devices or smartphones.
- It’s intuitive and easy to use as it comes with a clean and guided interface that significantly reduces the training time. It helps even first-time counters navigate the process with confidence.
- Duplicate scan alerts that prevent overcounting and highlight operator errors.
- Real-time progress dashboards track completion, discrepancies, and warehouse zones that are lagging.
- Bulk item update and multi-item submission that is ideal for high-volume rack or shelf areas.
- Automatic variance detection, a system that catches and calculates discrepancies instantly.
- Streamlined approval and recount workflows so that your finance and operations teams stay aligned.
- Centralized multi-location control that enables managing dozens of stores from one screen.
- Instant inventory adjustments in NetSuite eliminate delays between count and system accuracy.
These features address the exact gaps that make inventory chaotic in the first place.
Here’s a walkthrough of the Inventory Count SuiteApp by Senior NetSuite Architect (Manufacturing, Warehouse & Supply Chain), Eric D Holzer.
How Businesses can Benefit from Tvarana’s Inventory Count SuiteApp
Once implemented, customers discover that physical counting becomes predictable, faster, and more trustworthy. Following are the benefits that compound across operations, finance, replenishment, and customer experience:
- Thanks to mobile scanning and in-system worksheets, team achieve 40–60% faster counts.
- Since every scan in validated in real-time, your operations team get higher confidence in data.
- Significant reduction in write-offs resulting in lesser losses.
- Standardized processes across locations which provide uniform, easy, and efficient counting across units.
- Accurate on-hand data prevents stockouts and overstocking, leading to better replenishment decisions.
- Faster month-end/year-end close that makes reconciliation nearly frictionless.
- Teams spend less time counting and more time improving processes.
- Scalable operations for your business as new stores and warehouses can adopt the same process instantly.
However, the biggest benefit is that teams finally completely trust the inventory data they see.
AI-Powered Enhancements in Inventory Count SuiteApp: A Futuristic Variance Dashboard
Inventory count accuracy improves exponentially when systems can predict issues before they occur. Tvarana’s AI-driven enhancements on the Inventory Count SuiteApp transforms it from a counting tool into an intelligence layer for inventory operations. Here’s how:
- AI-assisted variance prediction: Identifies zones, items, and locations likely to produce discrepancies.
- AI-generated variance explanations: Suggests whether the issue is transactional, operational, or user-related.
- An intelligent variance dashboard: With pattern recognition, anomaly alerts, and risk scoring.
- Behaviour-based scan monitoring: Detects unusual scanning patterns that may lead to errors.
- Automated recommendations: Suggests recount, investigation, or process changes for specific SKUs.
This evolution is bound to turn inventory counting into a proactive capability, not just a year-end firefight.
Take a look at what the Variance Dashboard on the Inventory Count SuiteApp looks like. If this sounds like something your business needs, set up a demo with us today.
FAQs
- Does the Inventory Count SuiteApp work for both small and large businesses?
Yes, the SuiteApp scales effortlessly for single warehouses or multi-location retailers.
- Do I need new hardware to use this SuiteApp?
No. You can use existing smartphones or standard scanners.
- How long is the implementation timeline?
Most businesses go live with the Inventory Count SuiteApp within 2–4 weeks.
- Can it handle serialized, lot-based, or composite items?
The Inventory Count SuiteApp supports all major NetSuite item types.
- Does it support both full physical counts and cycle counts?
Absolutely! It also supports zone-based and event-based counts.
- Can managers track variances across multiple stores?
Yes, the dashboard is designed for multi-location operations.
- Will it disrupt my ongoing operations?
No. Deployment is lightweight and teams can run counts with minimal training.
