The Other End of the Delivery: Store Goods Receipt When Retailers Run Their Own Warehouses

More stores and more control over the warehouse sound like two separate stories. Operationally they meet at one point: the moment a delivery arrives at a store.

Why the back door matters more now

As long as an external provider runs the warehouse, a short delivery is a claim against a contractor. Once the retailer runs it, the same shortage is an internal matter, and it only becomes visible if somebody records it. A warehouse can measure its own picking accuracy as carefully as it likes. The real test is what the store finds when it opens the roll cage.

In many stores, that test does not take place. The driver is in a hurry, the delivery note is signed, and the goods go to the shelf. If two cases are missing, the system still shows them as received. The store carries stock it never had, replenishment is not triggered, and the gap surfaces weeks later as shrinkage on the store’s account.

A delivery, followed through

Consider a mid-sized supermarket on a Tuesday morning. The delivery from the distribution centre arrives before opening. Instead of signing a paper note, an employee opens the expected delivery on a handheld device or smartphone and scans the load units and items as they are unpacked. The device compares what is scanned with what was announced.

Most lines match and are confirmed in passing. One case of coffee is missing, and one case contains a different pack size from the one ordered. Both deviations are recorded on the spot. A damaged tray of yoghurt is recorded as well and set aside.

By the time the store opens, three things are true that were not true before. The store’s stock reflects what is physically there. The warehouse has a dated record of what went wrong on that delivery. And the damaged goods are in a defined process, whether that is a return or a stock correction, rather than on a shelf in the back room.

What head office gains

One store’s goods receipt is a routine task. Several hundred stores‘ goods receipts are a data source. Recorded consistently, they show which delivery routes and which product groups produce the most deviations, and whether a new warehouse process has improved matters. For a group that has just taken responsibility for its own logistics in three countries, that feedback is hard to obtain any other way.

Start with one process, extend when needed

The COSYS Retail Management Software is a modular platform for operational processes along the retail chain, from the central warehouse and goods receipt to stock, stores, returns and head office. Goods receipt and goods receipt control are documented for both stores and central warehouses, alongside stock corrections, returns, transfers between sites with stock in transit, picking, expiry date control and stocktaking. Processes run in a mobile app on handheld devices and smartphones and are administered centrally in the COSYS WebDesk. For customers using COSYS as SaaS, process data analysis in the WebDesk supports the evaluation of processes across sites.

The ERP or merchandise management system remains the leading system. COSYS is connected through interfaces or customer-specific import and export routines, the scope of which depends on the system in use. The solution can run in the cloud or on-premise. Retailers can begin with store goods receipt and add further modules as their requirements grow.

Are you reviewing how deliveries are checked in your stores? Contact the COSYS team for individual advice on retail management software, goods receipt, stock corrections and ERP integration. You can arrange an appointment by email at vertrieb@cosys.de or by phone on +49 5062 900 0. Alternatively, you can test the free COSYS Retail Demo App for Android and iOS.