A box of chews behind the others
A customer brings a bag of dog chews to the till and points out that the best before date passed a few weeks ago. The staff member apologises and goes to check the hook. There are three more behind it, all older than the ones at the front. Further along, some small animal treats and a flavour of cat pouch have the same problem.
Your staff do rotate stock when they fill the shelves, but not every line, and not every time. Slow sellers in particular sit for months. Nobody has a list of what is close to its date; the only way to find it is to check every product by hand, and that job is always the one that gets pushed back.
Why dates slip by
Most pet shop tills track quantity but not dates. The date is only on the pack, so the only way to know is to look. With a wide range of treats, pouches, tins and bags, many of them slow sellers, the chance of missing some is high.
- Best before dates are not recorded when stock arrives.
- Shelf filling puts new stock at the front when staff are busy.
- Slow lines are rarely checked.
- There is no list of products approaching their date.
- Reductions for short-dated stock are ad hoc and not recorded.
What out-of-date stock costs
Stock that passes its date is either thrown away or sold with a problem, and customers who find it lose confidence in the shop. What you are allowed to sell and how is a matter for your own advisers, and the safest assumption is that nobody wants a customer finding it first.
Short-dated stock also hides money. A reduction made a month before the date usually recovers far more than a bin bag on the day after it, but only if someone knows the date is coming. Without a list, the choice is made for you, too late.
Handling it by hand also costs staff time that could be spent with customers, and the problem tends to be found by chance rather than by a routine.
Dates captured once, checked by the system
- At goods in, staff scan each product and enter or scan the best before date on a handheld, with a quick option for lines that share a date across a case.
- The system keeps the dates per batch alongside your till stock, reducing batches in date order as sales happen.
- Each week, a short-dated list shows products reaching their date within a window you choose, by shelf location.
- Staff check the list on the shop floor, confirm what is there, and choose an action: rotate to the front, reduce, or remove.
- Reduced stock gets a label with its own barcode, so the till records the reduction properly.
- Reports show which lines regularly go short-dated, which helps you order less or drop them.
| Task | Checking by hand | With date tracking |
|---|---|---|
| Finding short-dated stock | Checking every pack | Weekly list by location |
| Rotation | When remembered | Prompted by the list |
| Reductions | Handwritten stickers | Barcoded reduced labels |
| Learning | None | Lines that often go short-dated |
Date entry adds a little time at goods in. We design it to be as quick as possible, and some lines can be excluded if their dates are always long.
A weekly routine instead of a surprise
On Monday morning, a member of staff takes the short-dated list round the shop. It lists a handful of products to check, not the whole range. Some are rotated to the front, some are reduced, and anything past its date is removed and recorded.
Customers stop finding old stock, and the owner can see which lines keep appearing on the list. Ordering less of those, or dropping them, frees space and cash for lines that sell.
Is old stock hiding on your shelves?
- Customers have found out-of-date treats or food.
- Best before dates are not recorded when stock arrives.
- Slow lines are rarely checked.
- Reductions are handwritten and not tracked.
- You do not know which lines regularly go short-dated.