Expiry-date control for grocery and FMCG chains
Expiry dates under control, without walking every shelf.
Every morning, Freshto gives store staff a short list: what to check, what to mark down, what to remove. No shelf walks, no paper logbook. Markdown rules by category, one dashboard for the whole chain, offline on the phones your stores already have.
Self-service signup is opening soon. Chains can start a measured pilot now.
Measured in a 2-store pilot (November 2024): 11.5× less time on expiry control, write-offs −59%.See how it was measured
Illustrative product interface. Numbers shown are from the pilot or examples.
Measured, not promised
One pilot, every number published with its method
- 11.5×
- less time on expiry control
- 18.5 → 1.6 person-days per store per month
- −59%
- write-offs
- across the 8 product groups measured
- +0.38%
- of turnover
- extra sales from markdowns
- 16,935
- tasks in one month
- created by Freshto, completed by staff
Pilot in a Ukrainian grocery chain: 2 stores, 3,684 SKUs in 11 categories, November 2024. Baseline measured before go-live, result after one month of use.
Read the pilot resultsThe problem
Expiry control still runs on paper, chat and memory
Most stores walk every shelf, write dates in a notebook and post photos in a messenger group. It costs days of work a month, misses products anyway, and leaves the head office blind.
Paper logbooks
Dates written by hand. Nobody can search them, and nothing reaches the office.
Messenger chaos
In one store we assessed, expiry dates lived in a chat group: around 4,000 messages in six months, dates calculated in the head.
Checks that find nothing
Before the pilot, staff checked 52 products in a category and found nothing to act on. The time was spent anyway.
18.5 person-days a month
That is what full shelf walks, the logbook and removals cost one pilot store per month before Freshto.
How it works
Three steps. No IT project.
- 1
Upload your assortment
An Excel file or an export from your ERP: product, barcode, category. No integration needed to start.
- 2
Enter the nearest date once
Staff walk the shelves once with the app and enter the earliest date they see for each product. One person manages about 100–150 products an hour.
- 3
Work from the morning list
Every night Freshto builds the next day’s list per store and category. Staff check only what is on it: confirm the new date, mark down or remove.
Why the list is short
Freshto does not make a check faster. It makes most checks unnecessary.
The app tracks only the earliest date on the shelf for each product and schedules the next look from that date and your markdown rule. Staff see a handful of products per category each day instead of the whole range, and new deliveries do not require re-entering dates.
- tasks per store per day on average, instead of a full shelf walk
- 68
- of items on the list needed an action in the pilot month
- 100%
- dates re-entered per delivery: the next check is scheduled from the known date
- 0
Pilot month, 2 stores. Before the pilot, 52 products checked in one category produced 0 actions.
- SKUs under control in the pilot
- 3,684
- One store’s list on an average day
- ≈68
Each grey dot is one of the 3,684 SKUs under control in the pilot (2 stores). The green dots stand for one store’s list on an average day: about 68 tasks. Positions are illustrative.
Three roles, one system
Built for the shop floor, the store manager and the head office
Shop-floor staff
A short task list on the phone or handheld scanner. Scan, confirm the nearest date, mark down or remove. Works in the cold room without signal.
- Morning list by category
- Scan or search a product
- Markdown step suggested by rule
- Offline mode
Store manager
See what is done, what is overdue and who did it. Each task is picked up by one employee, so accountability is built in.
- Task completion by employee
- Unfulfilled tasks
- Worst dates in the store
- Products not found on the shelf
Head office
Compare stores, set markdown rules centrally, follow supplier quality and export everything to Excel, BI or your ERP.
- Store ranking by task completion
- Central markdown rules
- Supplier signals per SKU
- Excel export and API
Markdown rules
Set the rule once per category. Freshto applies it every day.
Decide how many days before expiry a product gets which discount. Several steps per category or product, so a salad can go −10%, −25%, −50% and −75% on consecutive days while cheese has one step a week before its date. When the step is reached, the product appears on the list with the discount to apply. Printing the markdown sticker on a Bluetooth label printer is planned for the new app.
- Thresholds in days before expiry, per category or per product
- Multi-step discounts, for example −10% → −25% → −50% → −75%
- Markdown sticker with new price, barcode and date, printed on the floor (planned)
- Central rules for the chain, exceptions per store
Offline and devices
No signal in the cold room? Work does not stop.
Tasks and results are stored on the device, and staff send them as soon as the connection is back; automatic sync is planned for the new app. Freshto runs on Android smartphones and on rugged handheld terminals with built-in Zebra or Honeywell scanners, so your stores use the hardware they already have.
Smartphones
Android today, iOS with the new app. Camera barcode scanning.
Handheld terminals
Rugged PDAs with Zebra or Honeywell scanners
Label printers
Bluetooth sticker printing for markdowns (planned)
Web dashboard
Any browser, no installation
Pilot results
Before and after: one month, two stores
We timed the existing routine before go-live and measured the same values after one month with Freshto, using the same method in both stores. This is the only performance data we publish.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Time on expiry control | 18.5 person-days / month | 1.6 person-days / month |
| Products needing action per check | 0 of 52 checked | 100% of listed |
| Write-offs of expired goods | Baseline | −59% |
| Sales of marked-down goods | Not tracked | +0.38% of turnover |
Source: Freshto pilot in a Ukrainian grocery chain, 2 stores, November 2024. Baseline measured 24–25 Oct 2024, result 11–30 Nov 2024, scaled to a calendar month.
Read the pilot resultsSavings calculator
What would it mean for your stores?
A quick estimate using the ratios from the pilot. Change the numbers to match your stores.
Estimated monthly effect
—
Net monthly benefit · all stores · — per year
- Time saved
- — person-days / month
- Value of time saved
- —
- Write-offs avoided
- —
- Extra turnover from markdowns
- —
- Freshto cost (example price)
- − —
- Benefit-to-cost ratio
- — × the example price
Estimate based on the results of one pilot (2 stores, November 2024). Your results may differ.
Pricing
Simple per-store pricing. Pilot plans for chains.
Prices are being finalised. Single stores can request early access to self-service; chains start with a measured pilot.
Store
Independent stores, franchisees, small chains
Price coming soon
per store / month
- Self-service registration and Excel upload (opening soon)
- Morning task list, scanning, nearest-date entry
- Markdown rules by category (sticker printing planned)
- Offline mode on smartphones and handhelds
Chain
Chains from 10 stores
On request
volume pricing per store
- Everything in Store
- 30-day pilot with baseline and result report
- Store, office and admin roles
- Central markdown rules with exceptions per store
Enterprise
Large chains and groups
On request
annual agreement
- Everything in Chain
- Custom integrations and SSO
- Dedicated onboarding for roll-outs
- SLA and dedicated support
For chains
Start with a pilot in one or two stores
We measure before and after with the same method as in the published pilot. You decide on the roll-out with your own numbers.
30-day pilot
Baseline measurement, rules agreed with your category team, result report.
Excel today, API later
Assortment from Excel to start. ERP integration by API when you roll out.
Roles and access
Store staff, store managers and head office, each with its own permissions.
GDPR
Data processing agreement for EU chains. EU data hosting: to be confirmed.
FAQ
Questions we hear from chains
What is Freshto?
Freshto is expiry-date control software for grocery and FMCG chains. Staff enter the earliest date on the shelf once per product; every night Freshto builds a short list of what to check, mark down or remove in each store. A web dashboard shows the head office which tasks were done, by whom and when.
Do we need an integration with our ERP to start?
No. An Excel export of your assortment is enough to start. API integration can be added later for automatic assortment updates and exports of tasks and results.
Do we have to enter expiry dates for every delivery?
No. Staff enter the earliest date on the shelf once per product. From then on Freshto schedules the next check from that date and your markdown rule. New deliveries do not require re-entry.
How long does the initial entry take?
One person enters the nearest dates for about 100–150 products an hour. It is a one-off effort at the start; afterwards staff only work from the daily list.
What happens without internet?
The app keeps working. Tasks and results are stored on the device and sent once the connection is back, so cold rooms and back rooms are not a problem. Automatic background sync is planned for the new app.
Will it really save time, or add work?
In the pilot, time on expiry control fell from 18.5 to 1.6 person-days per store per month. The app does not make a check faster; it makes most checks unnecessary, because staff only look at products the list brings up. Every item on the list needed an action.
What about weighed goods?
Weighed-goods barcodes are recognised by prefix masks, so staff scan the label on the pack and Freshto finds the product.
Which devices do we need?
Android smartphones work out of the box. If your stores use handheld terminals with Zebra or Honeywell scanners, Freshto runs on them too. iOS and printing markdown stickers on Bluetooth label printers are planned for the new app.
Who owns the data?
You do. Your assortment, tasks and results belong to your company. We process them only to provide the service, under a data processing agreement for EU chains.
Try it on your own store
Request early access for your store, or book a demo and we will walk through a pilot plan for your chain.