The #1 Reason Fresh Keeps Piling Up (and Dying in Storage)

Let’s get real: not every item deserves a second chance. Especially not in your fresh category, where the shelf life is shorter than a trending reel.

Yet across supermarkets, fresh keeps piling up — and dying in storage.

Why? Because blind reordering is shockingly common.

Retailers fall into a routine:

• 👉 It sold once.
• 👉 Let’s reorder.
• 👉 Surely someone will buy it again, right?

Wrong.

The Problem: Familiarity = False Confidence

Let’s say a batch of ripe bananas sold out last Tuesday. Next Tuesday? You order the same quantity.

But last week, there was a festival, schools were closed, and the weather was banana milkshake–perfect. This week? Not so much.

That reorder wasn’t based on strategy — it was just habit.

And habit is the #1 reason fresh piles up and dies on your shelves.

The Overordering Epidemic: A Data Reality Check

Fresh doesn’t fail you. But poor planning will.

Every week, retailers across India order fresh stock — and silently throw chunks of it away.

• 1. 15–20% of fresh fruit gets wasted in stores without proper systems. – The Hindu Business Line, 2024
• 2. Manual forecasting causes up to 25% more wastage than automated tools. – PwC India, 2022
• 3. 10–12% of fresh produce goes unsold at retail due to weak inventory management. – Assocham Report
• 4. India wastes 30–40% of fruits and vegetables annually — due to overstocking and poor demand planning.– MOFPI, Govt. of India

The Real Cost of Reordering Wrong

• • Wastage: Unsold fresh stock becomes physical waste, and food loss adds up quickly.
• • Margins Drop: You're forced to discount or dump near-expiry items — killing your profit.
• • Expiry Anxiety: Staff spend time checking dates, rotating stock, firefighting.
• • Storage Strain: Extra stock chokes cold storage and crowds shelves, impacting faster-moving items.
• • Repeat Mistakes: And worst of all — you might reorder the same dead stock again next week.

The costs are real. And most retailers don’t even calculate them.

So, When Should You Let Go?

1. The One-Hit Wonder

Sold well once — never again. Usually tied to festivals, weather quirks, or local events.

Example: Custard apples during Onam week. Don’t mistake a spike for a trend.

2. The Slow Burner With a Short Life

Sells eventually, but not fast enough for freshness.

Rule: If the average daily sale is less than 10% of the total stock life — don’t reorder.

Example: Fancy cheeses with 5-day shelf life selling 1 unit/day.

3. The Emotional Pick

Items you stock because you like them. Or maybe your supplier convinced you.

Test: If you’re the only one talking about it — it’s probably not selling.

4. The Discount Mirage

Sold fast when it was on offer? Check if it sold when it wasn’t.

Example: That exotic juice shot that moved 12 packs at ₹10 off — and hasn’t sold since.

Think of Your Fresh Assortment Like a WhatsApp Group

• - Active members (fast-movers)
• - Lurkers (slow-sellers)
• - Problem creators (spoilage-prone)

You don’t keep the group clean by adding more people every week. You clean it by removing the noise.

The Miner Way: Smart Reordering, Not Repeating

Miner — Delium’s smart forecasting engine — helps retailers stop blindly repeating orders and start making data-backed decisions.

It doesn’t just see what sold — it understands why it sold, and whether it’s worth repeating.

Miner tracks 35+ retail attributes , including:

• • Seasonality, promos, events
• • Sell-through rate
• • What’s already in stock
• • What’s likely to sell this week

Miner tells you when to:

• Slow down/Pause/Repeat

Especially in fresh, where demand is unpredictable and margins are thin.

Real Retail Example: Tomatoes

One Chennai supermarket was selling 70,000+ kgs of tomatoes a month — but losing 1,750 kgs to wastage despite using ERP.

With Delium’s Copilot – The Miner:

• → Wastage dropped to 500 kgs/month
• → Zero sales lost
• → ₹40,000 saved every month

And that’s just one SKU. Now imagine the savings across all perishables for a chain with hundreds of such items.

Fresh Matters: Remember or Regret

Reordering should feel like an investment, not roulette. Every unit you bring in should have a reason, a plan, and a payoff. Because in fresh, you’re not just stocking products, you’re betting on timing, taste, and demand. And blind bets don’t just cost money — they cost space, shelf life, and sanity.

So decide wisely today, because in fresh, tomorrow pays for today’s guesses.