Inventory Movement Tracking: The Missing Link Between Accurate Counts and On-Time Shipping

Inventory does not go wrong all at once, it drifts one move at a time

Inventory movement tracking matters because inventory problems rarely start as a dramatic event. They start as small, unrecorded movements that slowly break the link between what the system says and what the warehouse can actually ship. Research shows that as SKU counts rise and warehouses move faster, inventory variance becomes more common when movement is not captured consistently.

Many brands come to G10 after fighting the same battle every week. The storefront oversells. The warehouse cannot find a SKU that should be in stock. Reconciliation becomes a routine emergency. Inventory movement tracking fixes this by creating a reliable record of every touch, every move, and every change in status.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." Movement tracking is the practical backbone of inventory accuracy because it makes inventory truth visible, not assumed.

Real time movement tracking is what makes visibility actionable

Inventory movement tracking becomes valuable when it happens in real time. If moves are recorded later, you still have blind spots, just with nicer reports. Real time tracking allows you to make decisions based on the current state of inventory, not yesterday's version of it.

Bryan Wright described the kind of end-to-end tracking history that makes real time visibility possible when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." Inventory movement tracking applies this same idea to every inventory event, not just shipments.

Scan-based workflows are how movement becomes proof

Inventory movement tracking depends on discipline. If inventory moves without a scan, the record breaks, and the system starts guessing. Scan-based workflows convert physical movement into digital proof, which is what makes tracking trustworthy.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." Inventory movement tracking is one of the biggest reasons scan-based execution matters because it keeps locations and counts aligned with reality.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." Movement tracking supports better picking because it keeps locations accurate, and it supports faster investigations when accuracy breaks.

Receiving is the first movement tracking moment that matters

The first movement is inbound receiving. If receiving is sloppy, movement tracking begins with a mistake. Research shows that receiving variances and delayed receiving updates are common causes of stockouts and oversells because inventory is either incorrectly recorded or not recorded quickly enough.

Movement tracking should record what arrived, how it was labeled, and where it was put away. The system should also record receiving exceptions so the brand can see whether a variance started at the dock or later in the process.

Putaway and replenishment are where inventory gets lost quietly

Inventory often goes missing during putaway and replenishment, not because someone is malicious, but because the move was not recorded or the location was wrong. Research shows that location errors create downstream picking errors because pickers cannot find inventory where the system claims it is.

Inventory movement tracking should capture every relocation. If a pallet is moved, the system should know. If a case is broken down and relocated, the system should know. If replenishment shifts inventory from bulk to pick faces, the system should know. These are the moves that keep counts honest.

Picks and packs must create movement records at the unit level

Picking is a movement event. Packing is a movement event. Every time a unit is picked, inventory changes status from available to allocated to shipped. Inventory movement tracking should capture those transitions clearly so the business can understand availability and prevent oversells.

When the system can show exactly when inventory was allocated, exactly when it was picked, and exactly when it left the building, planning becomes easier and disputes become less frequent.

Adjustments need an audit trail, not a shrug

Inventory adjustments are unavoidable, but they should never be mysterious. Inventory movement tracking should show who made the adjustment, when it happened, and why. Research shows that transparent adjustments improve accuracy over time because teams can identify patterns and fix root causes.

Without an audit trail, adjustments feel random, and inventory confidence erodes. With an audit trail, adjustments become signals about where process needs attention.

Portals make movement tracking usable for brands

Inventory movement tracking is most valuable when brands can access it without waiting. A portal that shows inventory history and movement events helps brands plan, troubleshoot, and communicate internally.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems." Inventory movement tracking becomes practical when brands can monitor inventory levels directly and see how movements affect availability.

As Connor said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." Inventory movement tracking depends on that transactional history because the story is in the transactions.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." Reporting access helps brands audit movement patterns and validate improvements.

Movement tracking reduces stockouts, oversells, and firefighting

When inventory movement tracking is accurate and real time, brands can trust available-to-sell inventory. That reduces oversells. It also reduces missed sales caused by hidden inventory. It reduces emergency labor spent hunting for product that is not where the system claims it is.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Movement tracking supports that accuracy by ensuring the record stays aligned with the floor.

Movement tracking rebuilds confidence after bad inventory data

Brands often switch 3PLs because inventory stopped being believable. Variances piled up. Planning became a spreadsheet project. Inventory movement tracking rebuilds confidence by making every move traceable and every change explainable.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Movement tracking contributes to that relief because inventory truth makes growth feel manageable again.

Inventory movement tracking is now essential

As fulfillment speeds up, inventory movement becomes the critical input for accuracy. Inventory movement tracking requires real time capture, scan-based execution, portals that expose history, and reporting that turns movement data into improvement.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." If your brand wants fewer stockouts, fewer oversells, and fewer inventory surprises, inventory movement tracking is a practical place to focus.

If you want to see what movement tracking looks like when every relocation, pick, and adjustment is captured in real time, ask for a walkthrough that maps your current inventory variance problems to a clearer, more defensible visibility model.