Expiry Management for FMCG Shops and Distributors

Expiry management means knowing the date on every pack you hold and selling, discounting or returning it before it expires. For an FMCG shop or distributor, the core habits are simple: check dates at receiving, keep the earliest-expiring packs in front, review near-expiry items weekly, and act early on returns. Small steps here protect your margin, your reputation and your customers' health.

An expired packet is more than a loss of its purchase price. It can cause a complaint, a lost customer or a legal issue. For goods such as biscuits, dairy, edible oil, spices and personal care, a batch can lose value fast because shelf life is short and buyers check dates.

Why expiry losses happen

• Date not checked on receipt. A pack arrives with only a few months left, and nobody notices.
• Old stock behind new stock. The new carton goes in front and the old one is forgotten.
• Overbuying for schemes. More quantity than you can sell in time.
• Slow items. Goods with low demand quietly age.
• No one owns the check. Everyone assumes someone else looked.
• Late action. The item is found one week before expiry, when little can be done.

FIFO vs FEFO

Method	Meaning	Best for
FIFO	First in, first out	Goods where older stock is always older in date
FEFO	First expiry, first out	Goods with different shelf lives or batches

FEFO is the better rule for expiry management. Two batches received in different weeks may have different dates, and the newer delivery can sometimes expire earlier. Always look at the date, not at the order in which cartons came.

Step 1: Expiry management starts at receiving

This is the cheapest moment to catch a problem.

1. Open the cartons you suspect and check manufacturing and expiry or best-before dates on a few packs.
2. Compare remaining shelf life with your sale speed. If a pack has two months left and you sell a box in four months, do not accept it, or accept it only at a lower rate.
3. Note short-dated goods on the delivery slip and tell the supplier or salesman.
4. Reject damaged or leaking packs on the spot. Photograph them for your records.

Step 2: Shelf arrangement

• Keep earliest-expiry packs in the front and at eye level.
• Mark cartons with a bold sticker or marker showing the expiry month.
• Use separate shelves or boxes for items expiring within a month or two, so they are visible.
• Keep a small "sell first" area near the counter.

Step 3: Weekly date check

Add a short routine to your weekly stock walk:

1. Pick one category per day: biscuits, then oils, then personal care.
2. Check dates on slow items and short-life goods first.
3. Move anything within a set period of expiry to the "sell first" area. Many shops use three months as the alert point for long-life goods and a few weeks for short-life ones. Choose what suits your goods.
4. Record what you found in a notebook or sheet.

Step 4: Decide what to do with near-expiry goods

Time is the key. The earlier you act, the more options you have.

Time left	Options
Plenty	Normal sale, place at the front
Getting short	Bundle with a fast item, give a small discount, tell regular customers
Very short	Deeper discount, sell to a canteen or trader who will use it quickly
Past expiry	Remove from the shelf, record the loss and dispose properly

A note on honesty: never sell expired goods or change dates. It is illegal and ruins trust. Take the loss and move on.

Step 5: Supplier returns and claims

Some companies and distributors have a return or replacement policy for near-expiry or damaged goods. To use it:

• Ask for the policy before you buy and keep it in writing if possible.
• Keep the purchase bill, batch number and quantity.
• Report early, typically well before expiry.
• Separate return goods so they do not get sold by mistake.
• Record the return and any credit note.

Distributors can ask their principal company the same, and should tell retailers about the process so that near-expiry goods come back in time. For the commercial side, see distributor margin calculation.

Step 6: Prevent it in the first place

• Order in quantities you can sell within shelf life, using a clear reorder level.
• Do not take a scheme just for the free quantity if it pushes you over your sale rate.
• Reduce orders for slow items early to avoid dead stock.
• Keep a small number of short-life goods and reorder more often.
• Make one person responsible for the date check.

A simple expiry register

A notebook with these columns is enough for most shops:

Item	Pack size	Qty	Expiry month	Location	Action by
Biscuit 100 g	Carton of 48	3	Mar	Back shelf	Jan
Chips 50 g	Carton of 60	1	Feb	Front	Immediately

Review it weekly and tick items as they sell or are returned.

How MaalMitra helps

Being clear about scope: MaalMitra's inventory does not track batch numbers or expiry dates. Use your date register or labels for that. Where it helps is the rest of the workflow for wholesalers:

• Stock moves with every order, cancellation and short delivery, so quantity on hand is closer to reality when you plan returns or discounts.
• Manual add and remove with reasons and a movement log let you record when stock leaves as damaged or expired, so you can see how much is being lost.
• Low-stock alerts for wholesalers and smart reorder for retailers keep ordering in line with demand, which reduces excess that ages.
• Delivery proof with the retailer's OTP, plus photo, signature and quantity as extra proof, helps when a dispute arises about what was delivered.
• Disputes can be raised and tracked in the app when a pack is damaged or wrong.

For more on keeping stock healthy overall, read kirana inventory management.

The takeaway

Make date-checking part of how stock enters and leaves your shop. Check at receiving, keep the earliest dates in front, review weekly, and act early. The cost is a few minutes each week, and the savings are packs that sell instead of expire.

If you run a wholesale business and want stock changes recorded with reasons, try MaalMitra. Retailers use it free.