STOCK CONTROL, FINALLY SIMPLE

KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE, EVERYWHERE.

Most South African SMEs still track stock on paper, in a spreadsheet, or purely from memory. ZANAVA keeps an accurate, live count of every item across all your branches, so you stop guessing, stop over-ordering, and never run out of your best sellers. Whether you're counting units on a shelf or ingredients in a kitchen, the same system handles it.

ZANAVA / MODULE ZNV-INV-01

ZANAVA OS

INVENTORY

WHAT IT COVERS

A high-level look at what Inventory Management does inside ZANAVA.

Inventory looks different across industries. A hardware store counts units per SKU, a butchery tracks cuts by weight, and a bakery or takeaway needs ingredient stock to deplete automatically when a finished item sells. ZANAVA's inventory module is built to handle all three without forcing every business into a retail-shaped box.

01

REAL-TIME STOCK LEVELS

On-hand, reserved, on-order and in-transit quantities update the moment a sale, transfer or receipt happens.

02

LOW-STOCK ALERTS

Set a minimum per item and get flagged the instant something needs reordering, no more dead shelves.

03

STOCK ADJUSTMENTS & TAKES

Record damages, recounts and write-offs with a reason trail, and reconcile physical counts in minutes.

04

BRANCH TRANSFERS

Move stock between stores with a full audit trail, so the right products are where the demand is.

05

RECIPE-BASED DEPLETION

Sell a finished item and its ingredient stock depletes automatically, so kitchens, bakeries and butcheries don't need a separate stock system.

WHERE THIS USUALLY BREAKS DOWN

The problems that show up before a business puts Inventory Management in place.

PAPER COUNTS DRIFT FROM REALITY

A stock count on a clipboard is out of date the moment a sale happens. Within weeks, what's on the shelf and what's on the sheet stop matching.

REORDERS HAPPEN ON GUT FEEL

Without live minimum-stock alerts, owners either over-order and tie up cash in dead stock, or under-order and lose sales to empty shelves.

INGREDIENT STOCK IS INVISIBLE

Restaurants, bakeries and butcheries often track finished-item sales but never connect them back to raw ingredient stock, so shrinkage goes unnoticed.

TRANSFERS BETWEEN BRANCHES GO UNTRACKED

Stock moved from one branch to another on a WhatsApp message has no audit trail, and nobody can explain the gap later.

✱ BEST PRACTICE

HOW TO DO THIS PROPERLY

01

COUNT LITTLE AND OFTEN, NOT ONCE A YEAR

Frequent spot checks on high-value or fast-moving items catch shrinkage early. ZANAVA's stock takes are built for a few minutes at a time, not a full weekend shutdown.

02

SET A MINIMUM ON EVERY ITEM THAT MATTERS

A minimum-stock threshold turns reordering from a guess into a notification. Start with your top sellers and expand from there.

03

RECORD EVERY ADJUSTMENT WITH A REASON

Damages, theft, expiry and recounts are all different problems. Tagging the reason on every adjustment is what turns raw numbers into a shrinkage story you can act on.

04

TIE RECIPES TO INVENTORY FROM DAY ONE

If you sell prepared items, set up your recipes before you go live. Retrofitting ingredient depletion after months of untracked sales means reconciling a mess.

05

TREAT TRANSFERS LIKE SALES, NOT FAVOURS

Every branch transfer should be logged the same way a sale is. It's the only way to know whether stock imbalances are a buying problem or a movement problem.

✱ WHY IT MATTERS

THE PAYOFF FOR YOUR BUSINESS

  • Cut shrinkage with a reason trail on every adjustment
  • Order smarter using live on-hand and on-order figures
  • Spend minutes, not hours, on monthly stock takes

✱ FAQ

QUESTIONS OWNERS ASK

Does ZANAVA work for businesses that sell prepared food, not just retail products?

Yes. The recipe-based depletion feature lets a bakery, restaurant or takeaway link a finished item to the raw ingredients it uses, so ingredient stock depletes automatically on every sale.

Can I track stock across more than one store or branch?

Yes. Every branch has its own stock levels, and you can transfer inventory between branches with a full audit trail on both ends.

How do low-stock alerts work?

Set a minimum quantity on any item and ZANAVA flags it the moment on-hand stock drops below that line, so reordering happens before you run out.

PUT INVENTORY TO WORK

Inventory Management is one of seven modules in ZANAVA, and your subscription includes them all.