WMS Scan-Based Inventory: How Modern Warehouses Keep Counts Honest

A warehouse management system can look impressive on a demo and still fail you in the one place that matters: keeping inventory aligned with reality. If your WMS is not scan-based, your inventory counts will drift, and the drift will show up as oversells, mispicks, retailer penalties, and wasted labor. WMS scan-based inventory is the difference between a system that records what happened and a system that hopes it happened.

Most brands do not set out thinking about WMS architecture. They care about shipping speed, customer experience, and growth. But as volume increases, the business starts leaning harder on inventory truth. When that truth is wrong, everything downstream becomes harder: forecasting, promotions, purchasing, and even customer service. A scan-based WMS is how you keep inventory truth stable when the warehouse gets busy.

Why "scan-based" is not a buzzword

Scan-based is not marketing language. It is a process discipline enforced by the system. A scan-based WMS requires confirmation at each critical step, so the system stays synchronized with what is happening physically.

Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment at G10 Fulfillment, described the baseline clearly: "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper." That statement contains the core logic. If work happens off-system, the WMS cannot record it. If the WMS cannot record it, inventory becomes guesswork.

Scan-based inventory also creates a transaction history that can be searched when things go wrong. Without that history, teams argue, recount, and patch numbers. With that history, teams can trace, fix, and prevent.

What a strong WMS does differently

A weak WMS typically shows inventory only when it reaches a final pick location. That means there are blind zones between receiving, staging, internal transfers, replenishment, and putaway. Those blind zones are where inventory disappears, not physically, but digitally.

Bryan Wright, CTO and COO of G10 Fulfillment, explained the standard for good tracking: "A good WMS tracks inventory through the warehouse at every point that you touch it." That is the operational requirement behind WMS scan-based inventory. Every touch is a chance for inventory to move, and every move should be a transaction.

Bryan gave a vivid example of what that means in practice: "At any point in time, I know that Bobby has this product on fork 10 right now, and if I needed to go find that product, I just got to go find Bobby on fork 10." When inventory is visible even on moving equipment, you prevent the quiet losses that happen when product sits in temporary areas without a record.

Receiving and putaway: where scan-based inventory prevents drift

Receiving is the moment inventory truth begins. If receiving is rushed, if labeling is inconsistent, or if putaway happens without scans, the inventory ledger becomes unreliable immediately. That unreliability shows up later as missing product, surprise stockouts, and emergency counts that stall operations.

In a scan-based WMS, the dock is a tracked location. Staging areas are tracked. Pallets are tracked. Each move from dock to staging to storage is recorded by scan. That is what keeps inventory visible in the messy middle, where many systems go blind.

When customers complain that their 3PL is "losing inventory," it is often this, not theft. It is inventory that was never properly captured as it moved.

Picking and packing: where scan validation protects the customer experience

Pick errors are expensive because customers feel them immediately. They create refunds, reships, and negative reviews that can depress conversion. A scan-based WMS reduces pick errors by requiring verification. A picker scans the location and the item, and the system confirms the match. At pack, scanning verifies the items in the carton belong to the order.

Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience at G10 Fulfillment, described what accuracy looks like when verification is consistent: "We have over 99.9% ship accuracy of these orders." High accuracy at scale is not luck. It is what happens when the WMS makes the correct action the easiest action.

Omnichannel inventory is where non-scan systems get exposed

When you sell D2C and B2B from the same inventory pool, your WMS becomes the source of truth for multiple channels at once. A non-scan system will drift too quickly under that pressure. You will oversell online, or you will short a retailer PO, or both.

Jen Myers, Chief Marketing Officer at G10 Fulfillment, described the core need during channel expansion: "You want to make sure your inventory is tracked across those two different systems, to make sure that there's enough inventory." That starts with warehouse-level truth, which starts with scan-based execution.

Real omnichannel control also means your WMS needs to support different workflows without breaking accuracy. D2C is usually unit picks and parcel labels. B2B can involve routing guides, special labels, and strict compliance steps. A scan-based WMS supports both because it records every transaction, regardless of channel.

Visibility turns scan-based inventory into a customer advantage

Scan-based inventory is not only for the warehouse. Customers benefit when they can see reliable data. When visibility is weak, every question becomes a ticket, and tickets interrupt work, which reduces accuracy further. Strong visibility breaks that cycle.

Maureen Milligan, Director of Operations and Projects at G10 Fulfillment, described the customer impact of real-time access: "What these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility." When customers can check order status and inventory levels themselves, they spend less time guessing, and the warehouse spends less time getting interrupted.

That matters because accuracy and speed are linked. When the warehouse stays focused on execution, the system stays accurate, and orders move faster without shortcuts.

How to evaluate whether a WMS is truly scan-based

Many providers will say they scan, but scanning can be partial. A warehouse can scan at receiving and shipping and still lose inventory in the middle. The real question is whether scans occur at every touchpoint: receiving, staging, putaway, replenishment, picking, packing, transfers, and returns.

A useful test is to ask for an audit trail. Can the provider show when inventory landed, when it moved, and who touched it. Bryan described that level of traceability directly: "We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking." A system that can show that history is far more likely to keep inventory accurate when things get busy.

How G10 approaches WMS scan-based inventory

G10 treats scan-based execution as the baseline for inventory truth. Connor summed up the operational requirement: "Having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." Bryan described the tracking foundation that makes those scans meaningful: "A good WMS tracks inventory through the warehouse at every point that you touch it." Maureen connected scan-based accuracy to customer confidence through visibility: "What these real-time portals provide our customers is 100% visibility."

If your business is growing and you are tired of inventory surprises, WMS scan-based inventory is one of the most important standards to insist on. It turns warehouse work into verified transactions, keeps inventory visible while it moves, and gives you a reliable foundation for faster shipping, better customer experiences, and safer channel expansion.