Expired Product – I’m sure that many would have this question during our grocery shopping, what would happen for the product at a supermarket that is expired? At times you will encounter such expired products on the rack and you might inform the store manager to remove them. Are you sure that they’ll remove the removed product? Here, let’s discuss the answers to these questions. Few might know what will happen to those expired products so, this is for the people who are unaware of this process.
The demand, supply, and stock-flow are the important factors that decide whether the products should stay at the racks of the supermarket or should be sold. Once the supermarkets get products from their dealers and they stock them up. If the products go stagnant, that is when it becomes a hectic situation for the supermarkets. All the stagnant products will be expired or nearing the expiry dates. If it is perishable goods then the loss is on the supermarket. But for non-perishable goods, these supermarkets will follow a few tactics to sell those products and clear the stocks. These tactics differ from business to business and according to the scale of their firm. We can discuss four common methods that most of the supermarkets follow when they are stick in these kinds of situations.
Clearance Sale:
You would have seen the board of ‘Clearance Sale’ hanging in front of many supermarkets. The offers they give during this kind of sales would be starting from 30% and it can go up to flat 75% of the MRP. As a common man, we would think that this is a great opportunity to grab your products at a low cost. And we end up getting the products at the offer price. But the products which are under clearance sale are the products that are nearing the expiry date or the products which are stocked up for a long time. As the name ‘Clearance Sale’ clearly says, this sale is just to clear the old stocks. So, when you get products from these sales, you won’t able to use them completely because the expiry date will be very much near. And if this happens to grocery products it is pathetic. You will be forced to throw the product half used.
Rearranging the products:
This is somewhat similar to the clearance sale method but here you won’t get any discount or offers. Once the supermarkets identify stagnant products, they tend to rearrange them. They will place the nearing expiry date products in the front and push the newest behind or the supermarket might not stock the new products until they clear old ones. So when a customer goes to the supermarket he will pick up the products which are arranged in the front. And, as a customer, you will end up buying nearby expiry products, and you won’t be able to use them when it crosses the expiry date. Many people are not aware of these tactics which most supermarket uses and they are becoming the bait to these supermarkets. This usually takes place during the monthly grocery purchases which happen during the start of each month. Using this method supermarkets will sell all the products which were not sold in the previous month or for a long time in the past.
Label Change:
Have you ever noticed that the manufacturing date and the expiry date have been modified in any product that you have bought? Many of us notice this only after we use the products. This is one of the non-ethical methods which some supermarkets follow to sell off their products. They print a new label with modified manufacturing and expiry date and stick it neatly on the product to make it look like a new one. Customers won’t have enough time or patience to check whether the label is original or fake. We unknowingly get these products and start to use them. It becomes more complicated when it is a grocery product as they are consumable. Expired products may lead to food poisoning and severe other diseases. For business, few supermarkets play with the innocence of their customers. These kinds of fraudulent acts are being strictly monitored by the food safety commission of the country and being scrutinized. But with some loopholes, these things happen at times. So as customers we must be more careful and check the products before you purchase them.
Re-Packing:
If you keenly verify the products before purchasing you would be able to guess whether the product has a modified label. But, what if the product is completely repacked and it looks brand new. Repacking the product is a common method that supermarkets follow to get rid of the old stocks. This doesn’t happen to branded products as they are packed and sealed by the manufacturers. But repacking of old products takes place with the independent products which are packed by the supermarkets. The independent products are from local brands that have tie-up with the supermarkets. When the product is nearing the expiry date or even if it is expired, the supermarkets will take the product out of the package and mix it with the new stock of products they receive. Then they pack it in a new wrapper and they place it on the racks to sell it. Unless and until you’re an insider, you won’t be able to find whether the product is been repacked or not. We might experience a difference in quality while using it. But most of the time there won’t be a notable difference in the quality because the supermarkets are good at repacking the old stocks. Even this is being scrutinized by the food safety commission as they conduct surprise visits to supermarkets.
What happens at NuevoKart?
Now, you’ll be aware of how supermarkets deal with their expired and old products. This doesn’t happen in all of the supermarkets or grocery stores you visit. NuevoKart is the best example for the grocery store which never follows these methods to overcome the situation of stagnant stock. Let’s see how they evade this kind of situation.
To begin with, NuevoKart purchases its products directly from the manufacturers. By this method of purchase, they dodge the wait time for the products which is wasted by the dealers or middlemen. So, all the products which NuevoKart receives will be fresh and brand new. Secondly, they follow the FIFO (First In First Out) method of clearing the stocks. After they stock up, NuevoKart sells all the products months before they go near the expiry date. So they won’t have any old stocks pending clearance. Few products may go beyond the expiry dates, even though after all the checkpoints they have to qualify for being listed at NuevoKart. In this situation, this online grocery store never modifies their labels or change the packages. They return the expired products to the manufacturer or if it is perishable goods then they’ll dump them. NuevoKart never goes into any unlawful or unethical actions to sell the products.
When it comes to online grocery shopping, many online grocery stores will not show you the exact manufacturing and expiry date of the products you order. You can know these details only after receiving them. But not like those stores, NuevoKart is coming up with an option for their customers, where they can check the important dates of the product which they choose. This is considered to be revolutionary innovation in the field of online grocery shopping.
