Lot or serial number: which one your products need

Most stock doesn't need either. A box of pens is a box of pens: you count how many there are and that's enough. But some products carry a number that matters, and once a customer, a supplier or an inspector asks about it, a count isn't enough any more.

There are two ways to follow those products, and they answer different questions.

A lot: units that were made together

A lot (or batch) is a group of units made or packed together, usually with the same expiry date. Every bottle of a shampoo from lot L-2611 is the same; what makes them different from lot L-2612 is when and how they were made.

Track by lot when:

• The product expires. Cosmetics, food supplements, pet food, batteries, paint, adhesives.
• The maker prints a batch number on it, often next to the expiry date.
• A problem would affect a whole production run, not a single unit: a contaminated batch, a wrong label.

With lots you record two things when stock comes in: the lot number and how many. When you sell, the oldest or soonest-to-expire lot goes first.

A serial number: one unit, one number

A serial number belongs to a single unit. No two phones share an IMEI; no two drills share a serial. Each one has its own story: who supplied it, who bought it, whether it came back for repair.

Track by serial when:

• Each unit is worth following on its own: phones, laptops, tools, appliances, bikes.
• There's a warranty, a repair or a return tied to that exact unit.
• Theft or fraud is a risk, and you need to know whether the phone in front of you is one you sold.

With serials you record every number as units come in, and you choose which one leaves when you sell.

Neither: most of your stock

Screws, cables, cards, clothes without a batch number, most gifts: a count is all they need. Tracking them by lot or serial would only slow you down at the counter.

How to decide, item by item

Ask three questions about each product:

1. Does it carry a batch or serial number from its maker? If not, you'd be inventing one, which is rarely worth it.
2. Would anyone ever ask about one specific unit or batch? A customer with a warranty claim, a supplier with a recall, an authority asking where a product came from.
3. Is the extra work worth it? Recording a lot takes seconds per delivery. Recording serials takes a scan per unit.

If the answers are "yes, yes, yes", track it. If any is "no", leave the item as it is.

You don't have to choose for the whole shop

A phone shop can track phones by IMEI, chargers by nothing, and screen protectors by nothing. A cosmetics shop can track creams by lot and gift bags by nothing. In Binhop, tracking is off for every item until you turn it on, item by item, and items you don't track work exactly as before.

What it gives you back

• Recalls in minutes. Open the lot or the serial and see where it came from and who bought it. Read what EU product safety rules ask a shop to record.
• Less waste. Sales take the lots that expire first, so old stock doesn't sit behind new.
• Clear warranty answers. A serial tells you when that exact unit was sold, and to whom.

See how lot and serial tracking works in Binhop.