How to reduce shrinkage in your grocery store
Product that expires, breaks or disappears: shrinkage is money you throw away without noticing. In groceries it can eat a good part of your profit. Here's how to reduce it.
Where shrinkage comes from
Before reducing it, you need to know why it appears. The most common causes in a grocery store:
What to do to reduce it
Track expiry dates
Knowing what expires soon lets you clear it with an offer before losing it.
Apply the FIFO rule
First in, first out. Place the new behind and the old in front.
Buy according to what you sell
Ordering by real rotation, not "just in case", avoids piling up what expires.
Record shrinkage
Logging what you throw away tells you where you lose and lets you fix it.
How a POS helps
A POS with stock control tells you what sells fast and what sits, to buy better. And logging shrinkage in seconds (instead of on paper) finally gives you the real figure of how much you lose and why.
Less shrinkage, more profit
Bipe controls your stock, warns you about slow movers and lets you log shrinkage in seconds. Try it free.
Try Bipe free →Frequently asked questions
What is shrinkage in a store?
It's product you lose without selling: through expiry, breakage, theft or errors. In groceries it's especially important because much product is perishable and expires fast.
What is the FIFO rule?
FIFO means "first in, first out". It means selling the oldest product first, placing it in front on the shelf and the new behind. It greatly reduces expiry shrinkage.
How do I know how much I lose to shrinkage?
By recording what you throw away. With a POS you can log shrinkage in seconds and see the total. What isn't measured can't be reduced: the first step is the real figure.