Your inventory system counts widgets; a London hospital supplier counts lots, expiries, and recalls
Custom inventory management software for a London, Ontario medical supplier, manufacturer, or agtech distributor runs $40,000 to $120,000 over 3 to 7 months. Fishbowl, Cin7, and spreadsheets count quantities. You go custom when you must track lot numbers, expiry dates, and full traceability for a recall, which is the difference between selling medical supplies safely and failing an audit.
Your London operation supplies hospitals, runs a production line, or distributes agtech inputs, and your inventory tool tracks quantity on hand. What it does not track is which lot a unit came from, when it expires, and exactly which customers received a given batch, the information you need the moment a supplier issues a recall or Health Canada asks. Spreadsheets handle the count; they cannot answer the recall question in an afternoon.
Fishbowl and Cin7 add features but still treat inventory as fungible units, not as lots with expiry, provenance, and regulatory status. For a medical supplier or food-grade agtech distributor, lot traceability is not a nice-to-have; it is the legal backbone of the business. Generic inventory software leaves that backbone in a spreadsheet, which is exactly where it fails under pressure.
- You must track lots, expiries, and batch provenance for compliance
- A recall or audit requires fast, accurate batch-to-customer tracing
- Aging stock and write-offs are a recurring problem
- Inventory counts drift because systems do not sync
- You sell fungible, non-regulated goods where quantity is all that matters
- Fishbowl or Cin7 covers your tracking and sync needs
- You have no lot, expiry, or recall requirements
- Budget is under $35k and complexity is low
- Full lot and batch traceability so a recall identifies every affected customer in minutes
- Expiry tracking with alerts that cut write-offs and prevent shipping expired stock
- Real-time sync with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), POS (Point of Sale), and e-commerce so counts stay accurate across channels
- Regulatory-ready records and reports for Health Canada and customer audits
- Barcode and scan workflows tuned to your warehouse and clinical-supply handling
- More expensive than a Fishbowl or Cin7 subscription
- You own maintenance and integration upkeep as your channels and rules change
- Lot and expiry tracking adds process discipline your team must adopt at receiving
- If you sell fungible, non-regulated goods, generic inventory software is the cheaper right fit
The honest cost picture for London
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Lot and expiry inventory system | $40k to $70k | 3 to 5 months |
| Full traceability platform with ERP and channel sync | $70k to $120k | 5 to 7 months |
| Traceability add-on to existing inventory | $25k to $45k | 2 to 3 months |
Feature priorities for London teams
What we build under inventory management in London
The engagements London teams bring us most often: stock control system, barcode scanning, multi-location inventory, inventory tracking, Fishbowl alternative and Cin7 alternative.
Exactly what you get
You get inventory software that tracks every lot and expiry, so a recall traces a batch to every affected London customer in minutes instead of a frantic spreadsheet weekend. It flags aging medical or food-grade stock before write-off, picks first-expired-first-out, and syncs in real time with your ERP, POS, and e-commerce channels so counts never drift. Audit-ready reports satisfy Health Canada and customer requirements. Pair it with warehouse management system capability and supply chain software for the wider flow.
How to choose a developer in London
Pick the team that asks how you would handle a recall before it asks how many SKUs you carry. Lot traceability, expiry logic, and audit reporting are specialized, so favour a developer who has built regulated inventory for medical or food-grade businesses, not just stock-count tools. Ask them to walk through tracing a single batch to every customer, and confirm they will sync cleanly with your ERP and sales channels.
Timeline: what happens, and when
- !They treat stock as fungible units; ask how they track lots, expiries, and provenance
- !No recall answer; ask how the system traces a batch to every customer
- !No FEFO logic; ask how expiring stock is picked and flagged
- !No ERP or channel sync plan; ask how counts stay accurate across systems
- !No compliance reporting; ask what records they produce for a Health Canada audit
If inventory management is on the roadmap, accounting, project management, lms usually follow within the year. Budget them as one conversation.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just use Fishbowl or Cin7?
For fungible, non-regulated goods, they are fine. They fall short when you must track lot numbers, expiry dates, and batch provenance for compliance, because they treat inventory as interchangeable units. London medical suppliers and food-grade agtech distributors build custom because lot traceability is the legal backbone of the business, not an optional feature.
How does recall traceability actually work?
Every unit is tied to its lot and batch at receiving, and every shipment records which lots went to which customer. So when a recall hits, the system instantly maps the affected batch to every downstream customer, turning a multi-day spreadsheet search into a few minutes. That speed is the entire point of building traceability into the inventory system.
What is FEFO and why does it matter?
FEFO means first-expired, first-out: the system picks stock by earliest expiry rather than earliest arrival. For medical and food-grade inventory that prevents shipping soon-to-expire units and cuts write-offs. Generic inventory tools default to simple FIFO or no expiry logic at all, which is how aging stock quietly turns into losses and compliance gaps.
Will it keep counts in sync with our other systems?
Yes. A custom build integrates in real time with your ERP, POS, and e-commerce channels so a sale anywhere updates inventory everywhere. Count drift across disconnected systems is one of the main reasons London distributors outgrow spreadsheets and basic tools, and closing that gap is a core reason to build.
How long to implement lot tracking?
Plan on 3 to 5 months for a lot-and-expiry inventory system and 5 to 7 months for a full traceability platform with ERP and channel sync. A traceability add-on to your existing inventory can land in 2 to 3 months. The recall and compliance logic is what takes time, not the basic counting, which is the part off-the-shelf tools already do.