Stock rotation is a way of mitigating stock loss. It is the practice, used in

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and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

, especially in food stores such as restaurants and

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...

s, of moving products with an earlier

sell-by date Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...

to the front of a shelf (or in the cooler if the stored item is on repack so they get worked out before the new product), so they get picked up and sold first, and of moving products with a later sell-by date to the back. In the case of food, a food rotation system that organizes and rotates food cans on a first-in first-out basis (FIFO) is important for storing food to prevent

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and to control commercial kitchen costs. When used correctly, the first-in first-out food rotation method ensures serving safe food and eliminates spoiled

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Description

Most, if not all, packaged products, will have either a sell by date on them or a ''display until date''; in practice, these are exactly the same thing. After this date, it is either illegal for the store to sell them (this is the case in Ireland) or the quality will have deteriorated to the point at which nobody will buy them. In either case, they cannot be sold. If a product is still on shelves after its sell by date, it will have to be thrown away, which is both costly and wasteful to the store (suppliers must be paid even if stock is not sold). Therefore, it is imperative that sell by dates are strictly adhered to, and that products which will perish earlier be sold as quickly as possible. Shoppers, on the most part, will simply walk up to a shelf and take the front most box of the product they are looking for; this is especially true if they are in a hurry. They will generally also, unless they are specifically looking for a product that will last longer, not pay much attention to sell by/use by dates. If products with an early sell by date are at the front, and later ones at the back, they will be sold first. If things are organized the other way round, or stock is improperly rotated, newer stock will be sold first, leaving out of date stock sitting on the shelves which will have to be thrown away. Rotation also applies to loose products; in this case, there is usually no set sell by date, and produce must merely look fit to eat. Older stock is merely placed on top of newer stock to rotate it.

Problems

Some customers are fully aware of the practice of rotation, and will reach towards the back of the shelf in order to get newer (and therefore slightly better) produce. Also, when applied to large amounts of produce, rotation can be difficult if not impossible. It only takes one careless worker to disrupt rotation and create problems.

Other methods of stock loss mitigation

If a stock is nearing its sell by date, stock may be ''reduced''; its price is lowered in order to be more appealing to customers. Reduced stock is usually included in the rotation of stock, and is therefore moved to the front of the shelf ahead of any unreduced stock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock Rotation Retail processes and techniques

Description

Problems

Other methods of stock loss mitigation

See also

References