Expiration Date Tracking

[lennys26]

For several years there have been users posting about their need to track expiration dates. I too have struggled with this and after not finding a simple, low cost solution, I decided to create a tracker myself.

Please feel free to take a look -- https://expiry.lenstewart.com/.

I have put a price on it in order to cover my monthly cloud hosting fees, but I think it is reasonable compared to the other expensive and overly bloated options out there.

I use it in my retail environment, and it will work with any similar environement where you may have multiple items with varying expiration dates. It helps with stock rotation, setting up sales/offers for products whose date is approaching, etc.

If you have any questions (or troubles) with it, please let me know. I would also appreciate any feedback or suggestions, if you feel something is missing.

[MayaP]

Thanks so much for sharing this @lennys26! I know expiration date tracking has been a common request from sellers, and it’s great to see the solution you’ve built to address this need. I appreciate you taking the time to share your tool and your experience using it in a retail environment.

[lennys26]

Thanks @MayaP . I hope that others find it as useful as I have. And of course, I am always open to any suggestions or comments if there is anything missing for users.😀

[AMFF]

I think we may give this a shot. Its much cheaper compared to Thrive, which only offers expiration date tracking as an afterthought, not their main focus. Can you explain a bit more how it works?

Do I log into the site, the site reads our current inventory, then we assign expiration dates per sku?

I guess a bit more on the workflow would be helpful

Ideally you'd be able to add it as a field in the item / inventory management page but would like to know more before trying to set it up

Thanks

[lennys26]

Hi @AMFF  - Did I overlook your comment and not reply?? Sorry.

If you haven't already, please check it out -- https://expiry.lenstewart.com/. The app is up and running currently and has had several major improvements since my original post a few months ago.

I also looked at Thrive, but it is both expensive and overkill for what I need --- simple date tracking.

When you log in, the app will sync your current inventory, bringing in all items in the Square catalog and their quantities. Then it is just a matter of adding the Best Before/Expiry dates for each. Simple and straight forward. Once the data is entered, expiring items are highlighted so that you can deal with them. There is also a graphic so that you can visualize the upcoming 12 months and how your products will be expiring over that time period.

I hope to be integrating another set of tools into this product in the coming weeks which will include:

* Profit tracking by date & category
* Product Loss calculations (waste control)

Please take a look and see what you think. I am always open to feedback and improvement ideas.

[lennys26]

Just as a product update message, I have added profit tracking and product loss tracking via a companion app.

Profit tracking is by day, by range of dates, or by product category.
Loss tracking breaks it down in the same way, as well as itemizing how many units of each product were lost during the selected timeframe.

[lennys26]

Uptake on the app has been great, and we’ve received lots of useful feedback from users, including feature suggestions and comments. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts!

We’ve recently added several new features, including the ability to export data to PDF or CSV, additional filters for the inventory list, and various UI improvements to make the information clearer and easier to use.

I’ve also been trying to get the app listed on the Square App Marketplace to give it better visibility. Unfortunately, Square is not currently accepting applications directly and is instead reviewing potential apps at its discretion where there is demonstrated demand.

If you’re using the app and would find a Square Marketplace listing useful, please upvote here to help demonstrate that demand to Square.

Thanks again to everyone who has tried the app and provided feedback!