Expiry date tracking and alerts for perishable goods

Purpose

1. Automate expiry date tracking and alerts for all perishable goods in Chinese supermarkets to optimize inventory, minimize waste, improve food safety compliance, and maximize revenue by selling products before expiry.

2. Automating the capture, monitoring, and notification of expiry dates for thousands of SKUs, including imports with variable shelf lives, in multi-branch environments.

3. Automate data sync between POS, warehouse, and supplier systems for live update of expiry dates and inventory status.

4. Automatedly notify managers, staff, and suppliers when perishable items are nearing expiry or require promotional pricing.

Trigger Conditions

1. Automated trigger when a new batch of perishables is received in inventory (manual input, barcode scan, or EDI API).

2. Trigger automation when daily or hourly checks identify SKUs within configurable expiry thresholds.

3. Trigger automation upon change in inventory status (e.g., transfer, restock, damage) affecting expiry data.

4. Automation of scheduled reporting and batch alerts for near-expiry items.

5. Triggered automation for immediate alerting if fraudulent manipulation or out-of-sequence data is detected.

Platform Variants

1. Microsoft Power Automate

• API/Connector: “Office 365 Outlook — Send an email notification”; set trigger by “SharePoint List Item Modified” for expiry field.
  

2. Zapier

• Trigger: “Inventory Low in Inventory Management App”; Action: “Send Slack/Email Notification”.
  

3. Twilio SMS

• Feature: Programmable Messaging — configure expiry alerts as SMS to management/staff numbers.
  

4. SendGrid

• API: v3 Mail Send — configure automated expiry alert emails with templated warnings.
  

5. Slack

• API: chat.postMessage — automate direct expiry notifications in supermarket staff channels.
  

6. Google Sheets

• App Script/Trigger: “OnEdit” for expiry column — automate alerts by email or webhook to inventory managers.
  

7. Shopventory

• Event trigger: “Product Low Stock/Expiry Return”; Action: email/SMS webhook.
  

8. FreshDesk

• API: Ticket Create — automate generation of tickets for expiring inventory requiring verification/action.
  

9. Trello

• Power-Up Automation: auto-card creation in “Expiry Watch” board when expiry date is within threshold.
  

10. Airtable

• Automations: “When record matches conditions” (expiryDate ≤ today + 7d), then notify stakeholder(s).
  

11. Shopify

• Private App/Webhook: trigger automated notifications for products with inventoryExpiryDate approaching.
  

12. Salesforce

• Flow Builder: automate expiry tracking workflow — send tasks/alerts to Operations queue.
  

13. HubSpot

• Workflow: automate emails or internal notifications when products are flagged as near expiry via custom field.
  

14. Notion

• API: automate moving inventory database items to “Expiring Soon” section; trigger notification.
  

15. Monday.com

• Automation: due date reminders set on expiry field; automated Slack/email notification.
  

16. Odoo ERP

• Automated Scheduled Actions: expiry check on Stock Quants; automated notification to assigned role.
  

17. QuickBooks Commerce

• API: custom webhook triggers alerts when batch expiry is within set days.
  

18. Oracle NetSuite

• SuiteScript: scheduled script checks lot expiration; automate email to inventory controllers.
  

19. SAP Business One

• Alert Management: automate creation of system/message alerts for expiring batches.
  

20. Barcode Scanning App (Scandit/Socket Mobile)

• Integrate via API to automate expiry capture at goods-in and trigger notifications for scanned near-expiry items.
  

21. AWS Lambda

• Scheduled Lambda: automate scan of RDS/dynamoDB inventory for expiring products; send SNS or SES alerts.
  

22. Google Cloud Functions

• HTTP trigger — automate expiry report cronjob; send notification to endpoint (email, SMS, webhook).
  

Benefits

1. Automated expiry monitoring drastically reduces manual labor, error, and oversight in inventory control.

2. Automating alerts optimizes stock rotation, minimizes spoilage, and boosts profit margins.

3. Automatically ensures food safety compliance by documenting persistent expiry vigilance.

4. Automation can integrate into promotional workflows, triggering discounts or flash sales as expiry nears.

5. Enterprise-grade automation enables real-time, branch-wide decision-making and centralized reporting.