A box you forgot you had
Your supplier offered a good deal on a larger order of filler, so you took it. It went into the cupboard in treatment room two. Months later, clearing out, you find three boxes past their expiry date, behind newer stock that was used first because it was at the front.
At the same time, you ran out of a popular skin booster on a Saturday, because nobody noticed the last box going, and had to rebook two clients. The cupboard is full, and yet somehow the one thing you need is not in it.
Why stock gets away from a clinic
Aesthetics stock is expensive, date-limited and spread around the building. Most clinics manage it by eye because stock software feels like something for a warehouse.
- Supplier deals encourage bulk buying beyond what the diary needs.
- Stock split between rooms, fridges and practitioners' kits.
- Newest boxes placed at the front and used first.
- No link between what is booked next month and what is on the shelf.
- Usage recorded, if at all, separately from purchasing.
What expired and missing stock costs
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Expired product | Money written off, and disposal to arrange |
| Stock-outs | Rebooked clients and lost treatments |
| Over-buying | Cash tied up in the cupboard |
| Emergency orders | Paying more for fast delivery |
| No usage picture | Buying decisions based on memory |
For a small clinic, the stock cupboard can hold a large share of its working cash. Watching it expire is one of the more painful ways to lose money in this business.
Stock tracking built for a clinic
- Goods in: each delivery is scanned on arrival, recording product, batch, expiry and where it is stored.
- Oldest first: when a practitioner needs a product, the system points to the box with the nearest expiry, in whichever room it is.
- Usage from treatments: when a treatment is recorded in your clinic software, the product used is deducted from stock.
- Expiry warnings at an interval you choose, so short-dated stock can be moved to the front, used for suitable bookings, or returned if your supplier allows.
- Forward view: upcoming bookings by treatment type compared with stock on hand, so you can see what you will need in the next few weeks.
- Reorder suggestions based on that forward view, ready to send to your supplier, rather than on a guess.
Some clinic systems, including Pabau, have stock modules. If yours does, we set it up properly and fill the gaps, such as barcode goods-in or forward demand.
A cupboard you can trust
You know what you have, where it is and when it expires. Short-dated stock gets used first. Saturday stock-outs stop, because the system noticed the last box going on Wednesday. When a supplier offers a bulk deal, you can see whether your diary will actually use it before the dates run out.
At month end, stock used, stock bought and stock written off are in one place, which your accountant will appreciate.
Practitioners spend less time rummaging too. A quick look on the tablet tells them which room the box is in, and nobody opens a new box when an older one is sitting half a corridor away.
How to tell if this is you
- You have thrown away expired filler or skin boosters.
- You have run out of a product with clients booked.
- Stock is spread across rooms and fridges with no single list.
- You buy in bulk without checking what the diary needs.
- Nobody can say what is in stock without looking in every cupboard.