Manage your lots with a sell-by-date and calculate the "number of days until sell-out" of your products
Last updated: July 21, 2026
In this guide, we will advise you on managing your lots following this structure and how to calculate the "number of days until stockout":
Definition of key concepts
Using the Ankorlogistics Fulfilment interface to track product sell-by dates
Optimizing the management of your product sell-by dates
Meaning of "number of days until stockout"
Estimating the stock coverage of a product
Explanation of stock statuses
Manage my lots with a sell-by-date
Let’s start with some key concepts
What is a lot number?
A lot number (or batch number) is a combination of numbers and/or letters, displayed on a product's packaging, enabling the identification and tracking of products sharing the same production characteristics. This number guarantees product traceability; it enables the identification and recall of products in case of manufacturing defects.
With Ankorstore's fulfilment service, the lot number is identified and registered in our IT systems upon reception of each of your products at our fulfilment center, before being put away in stock.
What is an expiry date (also called “best before date”) ?
Displayed on the packaging of a product for sale, it corresponds to the date after which a product is no longer safe for consumption or no longer meets quality standards.
With Ankorstore's fulfilment service, the expiry date is identified and registered in our IT systems upon reception of each of your products at our fulfilment center, before being put away in stock.
What is the remaining shelf life of a product?
It corresponds to a reasonable duration between the product’s reception date at the retailer’s shop and the expiry date, in order to give the retailer sufficient time to sell the product to end consumers before it expires. This concept is unique to the B2B sector.
With Ankorstore's fulfilment service, the remaining shelf life duration is registered in our IT systems based on the information you provided with your products' master data.
What is a sell-by-date ?
The sell-by-date is the difference between the expiry date and the remaining shelf life of a product. This is also a concept unique to the B2B sector.
Sell by date = expiry date - remaining shelf life
It corresponds to the date after which your products can no longer be shipped and delivered from our fulfilment center, since the remaining shelf life duration will not be guaranteed to the retailer. The products are thus blocked in our fulfilment center
Let’s illustrate the above concepts with an example
The lot number (L0602205) and expiry date (June 2023) on this product’s label were registered upon products’ reception at our fulfilment center.
The remaining shelf life provided by the brand in the products’ master data is 3 months. (i.e. once the product has been received by the retailer, he will still have 3 months to sell the product to the end consumers before the expiry date).
Thus, this product’s sell-by-date is March 2023 (Sell-by-date = 01/06/2023 - 3 months = 01/03/2023). From March 2023 onwards, all items with this lot number will therefore be blocked at the warehouse so that they can’t be shipped to the retailer, in order to comply with the guaranteed remaining shelf life.
How can you use your Ankorlogistics Fulfilment on the marketplace to track your products with sell-by-dates?
The expiry date, remaining shelf life and sell-by date parameters of your lots can be found in the "stored lots" tab of your Fulfilment section, by clicking on the line in the table corresponding to a lot number.
The following statuses will help you identify your lots with a sell-by-date at risk :
Imminent sell-by date : less than 30 days before sell-by date
Approaching sell-by date : between 31 and 90 days before sell-by date
Distant sell-by date : more than 91 days remaining before sell-by-date
How can you manage your products with sell-by-dates efficiently?
What should you do if the sell-by-date of one of your products is close?
We recommend you to apply a discount on the product on Ankorstore marketplace, until all lots with sell-by-date at risk have been sold. (you can find a quick link to the product page in the side panel). Don't forget to modify the item description to inform your retailers the reason for the discount.
You can also use your stock in our fulfilment center to serve external orders that you can declare through the “Send an external order” feature in your “Orders” section.
Also, keep an eye on the percentage of stock likely to reach its sell-by date, and plan your next replenishment accordingly.
What should you do if the sell-by date of one of your products is passed?
You can choose from the 3 options below. For each option, please reach out to your Ankorstore fulfilment contact :
Request the donation of the lots concerned through our anti-waste partner "Phénix".
Request the return of the lots concerned. All returns must be requested before the lots are blocked at the warehouse. Don't wait until the last minute to reach out to your fulfilment contact.
Request to reduce the remaining shelf life duration to extend the product's sell-by date, in order to continue shipping to retailers from our fulfilment center.
Calculation of the "number of days until sell-out" of your products in our Ankorlogistics Fulfilment
What does "number of days until out of stock" mean?
The number of days until out of stock, also known as "stock coverage", corresponds to the estimated days left before the concerned product in our Fulfilment Center runs out of stock.
Calculation used to estimate a product's stock coverage
Explanation of stock statuses
"In stock" : applies to products with a stock coverage of more than 14 days
"Soon to be out of stock": applies to products with a stock coverage between 1 and 14 days
"Out of stock" : applies to products with a stock coverage of 0 days
Example:
90 units of SKU A are currently stored in our Fulfilment Center. Over the last 3 months, an average of 5 units per day have been shipped from our Fulfilment Center. The stock coverage of this SKU A is therefore 18 days (90/5), which corresponds to the "In stock" status.