How MedPlus Pharmacy Reduced Expiry Losses by 40% Across 12 Mumbai Locations

MedPlus Pharmacy had expanded from 3 stores to 12 locations across Andheri, Bandra, Borivali, and Thane in under four years. While the growth was impressive, their inventory management could not keep pace. Each store operated its own billing software with no centralised visibility. Store managers ordered stock based on gut feeling, leading to massive overstocking of slow-moving SKUs and frequent stockouts of essential medicines during peak monsoon and winter illness seasons.

The financial impact was staggering. In FY2023-24, MedPlus wrote off ₹32 lakh in expired medicines — nearly 4.2% of total purchases. Their top-selling stores in Andheri West and Bandra were the worst offenders, each discarding medicines worth ₹4-5 lakh annually. The problem was compounded by the Indian pharmaceutical supply chain reality: distributors often push medicines with 8-10 month shelf life during scheme periods, and without automated FEFO (First Expiry First Out) tracking, these short-dated medicines sat unnoticed on back shelves.

Beyond expiry losses, the lack of centralised inventory data meant inter-store stock transfers were practically non-existent. A medicine expiring in 60 days at the Borivali store might be selling briskly at the Thane location, but nobody had the visibility to initiate a transfer. MedPlus was also struggling with GST compliance — their patchwork of billing systems generated inconsistent invoice formats, creating headaches during quarterly GST filings.

The management team, led by founder Rajesh Khanna, recognised that their next phase of growth required a unified technology platform that could bring order to their expanding operations while preserving the personal touch that made their neighbourhood pharmacies successful.

GoMeds AI deployed its comprehensive Pharmacy Management Software across all 12 MedPlus locations in a phased rollout over twelve weeks. The implementation began with a thorough audit of existing inventory — over 18,000 unique SKUs across all stores — and a clean data migration from their legacy billing systems into the GoMeds centralised cloud platform.

The AI Demand Forecasting module was the centrepiece of the deployment. GoMeds trained the model on MedPlus's 36 months of historical sales data, incorporating seasonal illness patterns specific to Mumbai (dengue and malaria spikes during monsoons, respiratory illness during winter), local demographic data, and distributor lead times. Within the first month, the system began generating weekly reorder recommendations for each store, factoring in existing stock levels, pipeline orders, and predicted demand.

The automated FEFO (First Expiry First Out) engine transformed how MedPlus handled inventory rotation. Every time a pharmacist scanned a medicine during billing, the system automatically selected the batch closest to expiry. For medicines approaching their 90-day expiry window, the system triggered alerts to the store manager and simultaneously checked demand at other MedPlus locations. If another store had active demand for that medicine, the system auto-generated a transfer request, effectively creating an internal redistribution network.

GoMeds also implemented a unified GST-compliant POS billing system with barcode scanning across all stores, connected to a central dashboard that gave Rajesh and his operations team real-time visibility into sales, stock levels, and financial performance across every location. The WhatsApp-integrated customer notification system enabled automated prescription refill reminders, driving repeat footfall.