October 22, 2019

Have You Ever Wondered How Often Stores Stock Skincare?

Have you ever wondered how often stores stock skincare? I mean, do you think there’s some chance there’s a jar of Tatcha the Silk Cream sitting on a Sephora self, getting dusty, for the last six or more months?

These are the questions that keep me up at night.

I’ve worked in retail but I’ve never worked in a beauty retail world. Have you use? What’s the secret about skincare? There are some highly expensive potions and lotions out there and I’m wondering how long do they keep them on shelves before they ditch them for new?

Most skincare has a shelf life of six to twelve months opened but what about unopened? Do they sit on a shelf for a year just waiting to be purchased? I imagine at some point stores clear the inventory out and restock new, fresher product but how long before they do that? Likewise for fragrance! How long does a bottle of fragrance sit on a shelf before they decide that it’s reached it’s sell by time?

I have some The Ordinary products I purchased about eight months ago, unopened, sitting in my beauty closet and I’m wondering have they reached a point that I won’t see the same results as I would from a fresher bottle?

I tend to label all opened skincare with a label maker and the date I opened it. But I’m wildly curious how fresh skincare is that we purchase at stores.

What do you think?

Do you work in retail?

How often does your store remove old product and restock it with new?

14 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Sheree

    I used to work for Clinique, and I can tell you that we never, ever sent stuff back or put it on sale due to age. We just dusted it and rotated new product to the front/back so the old sold first.

    • Isabella Muse

      wow really!? that’s crazy! I always worry that the intense lighting in some dept stores might produce heat and spoil products!

      • kjh

        In accounting/inventory mgt, it’s called LIFO = Last In, First Out. Totally the way it’s done. Everywhere, with everything. That’s why you have to pull out the drawers at Trader Joe’s and choose from the back…and look for the colored tags on all bakery to see which color represents the farthest date. Only perishables are tracked and discarded.

        • Isabella Muse

          I always choose from the back haha ;-D And always look at the bread tags! But with beauty you’d think they’d be more on top of things!

    • Carol G

      See, that’s funny because I worked at Clinique too (at Macy’s) and we would have a bin that we would put damaged and/or expired products in. Macy’s would then dump them into a hazardous waste barrel and get rid of them. I guess it depends on the manager. We would always check expiration dates – especially for products with sunscreen in them. However, I worked at a counter where there were a lot of sales. We didn’t have much that ever went bad. (If we did, sometimes we would use it as a tester.) But we were pretty good about rotating products. When we got a shipment in, we would at least try to put the new stuff behind the older so that all the sales people would grab the older products before the new.

      That being said, I have seen dust on products at Ulta, Walgreens, Target, etc. I think it truly depends on the store and who is running the department.

      I also bought a sunscreen at Ulta this summer – and dumb me – I forgot to check the expiration date. I was mad when I went to use it later that the exp. date was 08/19. I thought: I’ll never use this up by then! So lesson learned on my part…always check the dates yourself. Clearly the store associates don’t (at least at that particular Ulta).

      • Isabella Muse

        I imagine it does vary from store to store but it sure is interesting to hear all these stories!

      • JoJo

        Sadly I’m sure sometimes it all gets mixed around so even if you pull from the back it could be the old one!

  • SleepyTimeTay

    Former Sephora employee here. Nothing was ever sent back due to age. We just dusted and tried to pull over stock from the drawers first before we put fresh shipment out. The only time we sent product back was when we were told to for like a packaging change, or the product no longer being carried in store.

    Some brands in my store rarely moved (like AmorePacific), but dusted and on the shelf they sat my 18 months there. This goes for basically all products in the store.

  • Brandy

    I always wonder this as well. Reading some of the comments I guess it depends on the store and manager. I do know I bought some Garnier face wash at Rite Aid not too long ago, and realized when I got home that the product in the bottle looked more yellow than my old bottle (it’s supposed to be white). I returned it the next day and bought it at CVS where it was the correct color. I also bought some conditioner at the same Rite Aid that ended up smelling off and looked yellow and old. I just go to Target now where there’s more foot traffic and products don’t sit on the shelf for long.

    • Isabella Muse

      ugh that’s horrible! I never experienced that at drugstores to be honest! thankfully enough all is fresh but I always shop Target for most drugstore things and as you said Target has a lot of foot traffic!

  • Nicole

    Well, I can tell you that big box stores like Walmart and Target don’t rotate, so you’re fresher stuff is always in the front. The stockers don’t care, they just need to get it on the shelf, cause they have a pallet of product to work in a few hours. However, most skin care sells pretty well, so the likelihood of getting old product is rare. However, slow moving stuff like Flower Beauty, natural skin care products, or specialty items will sit on the shelf forever.

  • genevieve

    That’s a very interesting point you have raised there Muse, and one that I haven’t really thought much about myself – but I will now.
    Here in Aus, I tend to purchase most of my skincare products at either Priceline (similar but way less beauty products to Ulta) and Chemist Warehouse – both shops have a lot of foot traffic. I never purchase from our Target because I think the products are old.
    I think when the expiry dates are getting close on some products both places have a massive sale….

  • NNB

    Hey! I work in retail in Canada. Most of the “derm”� brands have expiry dates which is awesome. We usually mark down, or send back to the vendor just before the expire. As for items without an expiry date, sadly they can sit on the shelf quite a while. But we don’t order more than we think we can sell! I find that things move quickly and often times new products are launched and discontinued items sent back to the vendor on a regular basis