Stock · 5 min read
Why one stock number hides your real losses
A shelf count tells you how much you have. It does not tell you which units are about to expire or what each one cost.
Most small systems keep one number per product: 40 tubs of yoghurt. That number is true and almost useless. It cannot tell you that 18 of those tubs came in last week and 22 arrive on the earliest expiry date, or that the newer delivery cost more than the older one.
Batches change the questions you can ask
When every delivery is its own batch, with its own quantity, cost and expiry date, three things become visible. You can sell the earliest expiry first. You can see short-dated stock early enough to mark it down instead of binning it. And you can see your real margin, because two deliveries of the same product rarely cost the same.
What to look at each week
- Stock that expires within the next two weeks, by product and branch.
- Products where the selling price has not moved but the cost has.
- The gap between what the system says you have and what a count finds.
None of this needs a large team. It needs the system to hold stock the way it actually arrives. That is the idea behind Shelf360.