Inventory Management Basics for Rwandan Retailers

A mini-supermarket in Gikondo ordered 200 bottles of a premium juice brand last August. By December, 140 bottles were still on the shelf. The juice expired in January. RWF 840,000 in dead stock — because nobody was tracking what was actually selling and what was sitting there.

Why inventory management matters

• Dead stock = dead money — every item sitting unsold on your shelf is cash you can’t use for anything else
• Stockouts = lost sales — if a customer comes for a product and it’s not there, they buy from your competitor. Often, they don’t come back
• Expired goods = total loss — especially relevant for food retailers, pharmacies, and cosmetics
• Theft detection — if you don’t know what you should have, you don’t know what’s missing

Start with a count

Before anything else: count everything you have. Write it down. Date it. This is your baseline. Without this, no system works.

Most small retailers in Rwanda haven’t done a full inventory count in months or years. It’s tedious but essential. Block off a Sunday morning and count.

The simple system

You don’t need software on day one. A Google Sheets spreadsheet with four columns works:

• Product name
• Quantity on hand
• Reorder point (the minimum before you order more)
• Last restocked date

Update it when you receive stock and when you sell. Check it weekly. That’s it. You’re already ahead of 80% of small retailers.

The ABC method

Not all products deserve equal attention:

• A items (top 20% of products, ~80% of revenue) — track closely, never run out
• B items (next 30%, ~15% of revenue) — track weekly, maintain reasonable stock
• C items (bottom 50%, ~5% of revenue) — order when needed, don’t overstock

A dairy shop’s A items might be milk, eggs, and bread. C items might be specialty imported cheese. Spend your inventory attention where the revenue is.

When to upgrade to software

Spreadsheets stop working when you have 200+ SKUs or multiple locations. At that point, consider:

• Loyverse (free) — POS with inventory tracking, works on any Android phone
• StockTake Online — simple cloud inventory management
• Integrated business tools — platforms like Kisimenti combine inventory with invoicing, analytics, and operations management

Start simple. Count your stock. Track what moves. Order based on data, not memory. Your shelf space and your capital will thank you.