SKU-Level Inventory Tracking: Making Inventory Accuracy Real, Not Aspirational

Inventory problems start at the SKU level, so visibility has to start there

SKU-level inventory tracking matters because inventory errors rarely happen as a big, obvious event. They happen one SKU at a time. Research shows that as catalogs grow and channels multiply, brands face more stockouts, more oversells, and more picking mistakes when SKU-level visibility is weak. When the system cannot answer what you have for a specific SKU, everything downstream becomes guesswork.

Many brands come to G10 after struggling with inventory that looked fine in total but failed in practice. The warehouse claimed the SKU was available, but pickers could not find it. The storefront sold inventory that did not exist, and customers paid for products that could not ship. SKU-level inventory tracking fixes this by making the smallest unit of truth visible and traceable.

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." SKU-level tracking is a direct answer to that disillusionment because it improves inventory accuracy and makes it measurable.

Real time movement tracking is what makes SKU-level visibility useful

SKU-level inventory tracking does not work if updates lag reality. Inventory moves constantly, and the system must capture that movement as it happens. Research shows that delayed updates create two problems at once: you oversell the SKUs that are already gone, and you under-sell the SKUs that arrived but are not yet visible.

Bryan Wright described the kind of tracking history that supports real time visibility 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." SKU-level tracking relies on the same idea: every movement creates a timestamped record.

Scan-based workflows keep SKU counts honest

SKU-level tracking is only as accurate as the warehouse process. If inventory moves without scans, the system cannot know what happened, and SKU counts become unreliable. Scan-based execution is what keeps SKU-level data aligned with physical reality.

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." If you want SKU-level tracking you can act on, scanning is not optional.

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." SKU-level tracking supports better picking because accurate location data reduces mistakes, and transaction history makes errors easier to diagnose.

SKU-level tracking needs location-level visibility

Knowing you have 500 units of a SKU is not enough if you do not know where the 500 units are. SKU-level inventory tracking must include location-level visibility so pickers can find inventory where the system says it is. Research shows that location visibility reduces labor waste and reduces picking errors because teams stop hunting for missing inventory.

Location visibility also supports better slotting. If a SKU drives high volume, it should live in a location that supports fast picks. If a SKU drives frequent errors, it may need a different storage method, labeling approach, or quality check. SKU-level tracking helps identify those patterns.

Receiving discipline is the first step in SKU-level accuracy

SKU-level tracking begins at receiving. If inbound inventory is received incorrectly, everything downstream becomes harder. Research shows that receiving errors are a common source of inventory variance because they create a bad starting point.

A strong SKU-level tracking system should capture what arrived, how it was labeled, where it was put away, and whether there were variances. When a SKU goes missing later, you can determine whether the variance started at receiving or occurred during movement and picks.

Cycle counts become smarter when tracking is SKU-level

Cycle counting is more than counting. It is learning. When you can track variance patterns by SKU, you can prioritize cycle counts where they matter most and reduce time wasted counting stable items. Research shows that targeted cycle counting improves accuracy faster than random counting because it focuses on the SKUs that cause the most problems.

SKU-level tracking also improves adjustments. If you can see the transaction history tied to a variance, you can identify the root cause rather than treating every adjustment as a mysterious correction.

Portals make SKU-level tracking usable without extra work

SKU-level tracking is only helpful if brands can access it quickly. A portal that shows inventory levels and transaction history makes SKU-level tracking practical for planning and problem solving.

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." SKU-level tracking becomes more valuable when brands can monitor inventory levels directly and see how inventory changes in real time.

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." SKU-level inventory tracking depends on this item-level transaction history.

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 makes it easier to audit SKU movement and share visibility internally.

SKU-level tracking reduces stockouts, oversells, and support tickets

When SKU-level inventory tracking is accurate, brands stop overselling. They also stop missing sales due to hidden inventory. Customers get what they paid for. Support teams get fewer tickets caused by backorders and cancels. Research shows that accurate SKU-level availability is one of the most important inputs for a predictable post-purchase experience.

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." SKU-level tracking helps make that accuracy visible and actionable.

SKU-level visibility rebuilds confidence after bad inventory data

Brands often switch 3PLs because inventory stopped being believable. One SKU after another became a surprise. Planning became a spreadsheet war. SKU-level tracking rebuilds confidence by making inventory truth consistent, traceable, and accessible.

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." SKU-level truth is a major driver of that relief because it makes planning possible again.

SKU-level inventory tracking is now essential

As catalogs expand, SKU-level accuracy becomes the difference between smooth growth and daily firefighting. SKU-level inventory tracking requires real time movement capture, scan-based execution, portals that expose inventory levels and history, and reporting that supports continuous 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, SKU-level inventory tracking is a practical place to focus.

If you want to see what SKU-level tracking looks like when every movement is captured and visible in real time, ask for a walkthrough that maps your inventory pain points to a clearer, more defensible visibility model.