Running a pharmacy means managing thousands of items, each with its own batch number, expiry date and tax rate. Unlike a general store, a mistake here can mean selling expired medicine or blocking cash in stock that's about to lapse. Good stock management isn't optional — it's the heart of the business. Here's how to get it right.
The challenges unique to a pharmacy
- Batches and expiry. The same medicine arrives in different batches with different expiry dates and prices. You need to know not just *how much* you have, but *which batch* and *when it expires*.
- FEFO, not just FIFO. Pharmacies sell First-Expiry-First-Out — the batch expiring soonest should go first, regardless of when it arrived.
- Fast billing. A counter can't wait while you search for a product; billing has to be quick and accurate.
- Compliance. GST, drug schedules and accurate records all have to line up.
Practical steps to stay in control
- Record every item with its batch and expiry at purchase. The time to capture batch data is when stock comes in, not when it's sold.
- Bill by batch. When you sell, the system should let you pick (or auto-pick) the batch and reduce exactly that batch's quantity.
- Watch an expiry report. Review items nearing expiry monthly so you can return them to the supplier or promote them before they lapse.
- Set reorder levels. Fast-moving medicines should trigger a low-stock alert before you run out.
- Reconcile physically. Do periodic physical counts and match them against the system to catch shrinkage early.
The payoff
- Less expired stock written off — directly protecting your margin.
- No stockouts on fast movers, so you don't lose a sale to the shop next door.
- Faster billing at the counter with barcode support.
- Clean GST records because tax is captured correctly on every sale.
How the right software helps
All of this is painful on paper or a spreadsheet and easy with purpose-built software. CraveInvoice tracks batch and expiry on every item, bills by batch, warns you about near-expiry stock and low reorder levels, and keeps your GST billing compliant — on desktop for a fully offline counter, or in the cloud across multiple branches.
See pharmacy billing software for the full feature set, or read our general retail inventory management guide for stock tips that apply to any shop.