Grocery inventory management software is judged by one line the general inventory products do not carry: the perishable waste, counted by the case and priced at cost, store by store, day by day. A grocer with two or three stores knows the produce and the dairy are where the margin goes, and a system that cannot say which store wasted what this week has not done the grocery part of the job. This page is about what the software must carry for the grocer, and the free grocery shrink and waste sheet on this site works the waste and the shrink from the store's own figures, with no account.
The perishable line, by store
A grocery inventory carries a shelf life per line, and the waste is the stock that reached it unsold: cases thrown away, marked down or returned, each priced at cost. Software for a grocer keeps that count per line per store per day, so the question of which store wastes the most on a category is a lookup. The grocery shrink and waste sheet on this site works the waste in units and dollars from the store's own counts and publishes no benchmark waste rate.
Shrink beside the waste
Waste is the stock the store threw away; shrink is the stock it cannot find. The two are different failures with different fixes, and a system that folds them into one figure hides which one the store has. The sheet returns both, and the count sheet on this site works the shrink's turns and days on hand beside them, so the grocer reads all three per store.
Between the stores
A grocer with more than one store moves stock between them before it wastes, and the multi-store stock transfer sheet on this site works the transfer that levels two stores' cover and the reorder after it. The paid plan keeps every store's lines, counts, waste and transfers against the store and exports them; the sheets stay free.
Questions people ask about grocery inventory management software
What must grocery inventory management software carry?
The perishable waste per line per store per day, priced at cost, beside the shrink from the count and the transfers between stores. The free grocery shrink and waste sheet on this site works the waste and the shrink; the paid plan keeps them per store.
What is the difference between waste and shrink?
Waste is stock the store threw away or marked down at the end of its shelf life; shrink is stock the count cannot find against the book. The sheet returns both from the store's own figures.
Does the sheet publish a waste benchmark?
No. Every figure is the store's own; the sheet publishes no rate and the paid plan keeps the store's own history so next month's figure is measured.