Expiry is the biggest silent cost in a grocery. The POS tracks one active expiry date per product, captured when you receive the shipment, and warns you ahead of time. The goal is to act while the product can still be sold.
Signs you are in this situation
- The sidebar or Home shows an expiring soon count.
- Inventory → Near Expiry lists products with few Days remaining.
- Cashiers see Expires in N days on cart lines at Checkout.
- The Expiry-Loss section in Reports → Inventory Analytics is growing month over month.
What to do right now
- Open Inventory → Near Expiry. It is sorted soonest first. Note Expiry date, Days remaining and how much stock is on hand.
- Check what is already happening automatically: Settings → Near Expiry shows the Alert window (days) (14 by default) and the Near-expiry discount (%) that checkout applies on its own to products inside the window. Adjust both if they do not fit your store.
- For products that need a stronger push, create a targeted promotion in Promotions → New Promotion with a short Active dates range. See Launching a promotion.
- Move the product to a visible spot and tell the cashiers which items to suggest.
- For anything that reaches its date unsold: Inventory → Stock → Adjust, choose the product, enter a negative Quantity delta, set Reason to Expired, then Apply. Physically remove it from the shelf at the same time.
Decide
| If… | Then… |
|---|---|
| It still has a week or more and normally sells | Let the automatic near-expiry discount do its job and move it to the front. |
| It has days left and a large quantity | Add a targeted promotion (percent or fixed amount) for those days only. Check the margin first. |
| Your supplier accepts returns or exchanges for short-dated stock | Follow your store agreement with them. Record the units that leave with an adjustment using Reason Correction and a note in your own records, so stock stays accurate. |
| It expired | Write it off with Reason Expired. Never sell it, and never leave it in stock so it looks available at checkout. |
Afterwards, and how to prevent it
- Always fill in Expiry date when you Receive Shipment. Without it, the product never appears in the near-expiry list.
- Review Reports → Inventory Analytics → Expiry-Loss monthly. The products that repeat are the ones to order in smaller quantities.
- Compare with Turnover in the same report: low turnover plus expiry loss means you are buying too much of it.
- Rotate stock on the shelf: new receipts go behind, older product in front.