What is inventory on hand?

Point of Sale (POS) Glossary

Inventory on hand is the available stock a merchant has in their possession. For example, a store might have ordered 500 pairs of sunglasses, sold 275, and has 225 remaining as inventory on hand. A point of sale system that has real-time inventory management can report stock on hand at any time. Those that do not would require inventory reconciliation for an accurate count.

If a POS system supports multi-warehouse capability, it can report inventory on hand across all stores and warehouses. This is extremely useful for pooling stock for an e-commerce store. If a store has a delivery service, customers can order any inventory on hand, and it could be delivered or shipped from a merchant’s warehouse or other location.