Cosmetics and beauty warehouse software for mixed product rules: lots, expiry and recalls
Health Canada’s Cosmetic Regulations put notification and labelling duties on manufacturers and importers: notify within 10 days of first sale, and label in English and French. They do not require expiry dates or lot codes on cosmetics. Beauty lines that are natural health products are different: those must show a lot number and an expiry date.
The warehouse still carries real obligations. The Food and Drugs Act bars storing cosmetics for sale in unsanitary conditions, relabelling must keep every bilingual element, and a recall negotiated with Health Canada depends on distribution records by batch: quantities, dates, destinations and customers. A beauty range can put both kinds of product on one shelf under different rules; WarePulse handles that item by item, with lot and expiry tracking on every plan.
Connect workflow fit to rollout context earlier.
The warehouse still carries real obligations. The Food and Drugs Act bars storing cosmetics for sale in unsanitary conditions, relabelling must keep every bilingual element, and a recall negotiated with Health Canada depends on distribution records by batch: quantities, dates, destinations and customers. A beauty range can put both kinds of product on one shelf under different rules; WarePulse handles that item by item, with lot and expiry tracking on every plan.
Beauty 3PLs storing cosmetics and natural health products for several brands, with client portals on every plan.
Warehouses that assemble gift sets or relabel for brands and want each job run as a work order checklist with photo evidence.
Distributors who need lot and expiry control for natural health products alongside lot-only cosmetics.
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ImplementationCompare related WarePulse options
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Plan the next warehouse step
Bring a brand’s SKU list with product classes, and we will show lot, expiry and hold setup for both rulebooks.
Workflow steps
- Classify a sample of SKUs as cosmetic, natural health product or drug, and set lot and expiry tracking for each.
- Simulate a batch recall: place the lot on hold and ask how the list of customers, dates and quantities would be produced.
- Process a customer return, record its condition and disposition it to quarantine.
Implementation planning
- Items import from CSV with their lot and expiry tracking settings, and opening stock imports with lot numbers and expiry dates.
- Decide which kitting or relabelling steps happen in the warehouse and who approves label versions.
Security and purchasing context
- On every plan, each brand’s portal login sees only its own inventory, receipts and returns.
- Only managers can place or release a hold.
Questions to resolve
- Do cosmetics need expiry dates in Canada? Not under the Cosmetic Regulations; natural health products do.
- Must a third-party warehouse register under MoCRA? The FDA defines a facility as an establishment that manufactures or processes cosmetics, which a storage-only warehouse does not do.
Expected business impact
- A hold with a recall reason takes a batch out of available stock the moment a question is raised.
- Recording a quarantine or disposal decision supports the return review; staff remain responsible for applying the approved quality procedure before resale.
The sector rules your WMS has to respect
The operating rules that create the most risk in this sector — and hurt the most when the software gets them wrong.
Notification (Cosmetic Regulations s. 30): manufacturers and importers notify Health Canada within 10 days of first sale in Canada; the warehouse has no notification duty of its own.
Labels (Health Canada labelling guidance): required information in English and French, with the ingredient list in INCI names.
Sanitary storage (Food and Drugs Act s. 18): no storing cosmetics for sale under unsanitary conditions, which applies directly to warehouses.
Recalls: cosmetics are outside the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, so recalls are negotiated with Health Canada, which expects lot data and distribution records.
Natural health products in the same range must show a lot number and an expiry date, so they need lot and expiry control that ordinary cosmetics do not.
Where WarePulse fits this sector
How WarePulse handles the sector rules that actually matter on your floor.
On every plan, each item is set as lot-tracked, expiry-tracked or neither, so natural health products can follow FEFO while ordinary cosmetics are only lot-tracked.
The lot is recorded at receiving and on every pick line, which is the data a recall list by batch, customer and date is built from; there is no one-click recall report yet.
Managers can hold a batch with a reason such as recall or investigation, which takes it out of available stock while a Health Canada question is open.
On every plan, authorized staff record return condition and a disposition such as restock, quarantine or disposal. The client’s approved product-quality procedure decides whether opened product may be resold.
Gift-set assembly and relabelling can run as work orders with checklist steps and photo evidence.
On every plan, each brand you store for gets a client portal with its inventory, receipts and returns, and storage is billed from rate plans.
Built for warehouses in this industry
Operators and customer profiles where sector-specific rules shape the decision.
Beauty 3PLs storing cosmetics and natural health products for several brands, with client portals on every plan.
Warehouses that assemble gift sets or relabel for brands and want each job run as a work order checklist with photo evidence.
Distributors who need lot and expiry control for natural health products alongside lot-only cosmetics.
Operations shipping to the US, where MoCRA facility registration applies to establishments that manufacture or process cosmetics, not to warehouses that only store them.
Two rulebooks on one shelf
A moisturizer and a sunscreen can sit side by side and follow different regulations. Model that difference in the item master: expiry and lot control where the product class requires it, and lot capture everywhere so a recall can be traced. When a label changes, also note which lots carry the new version.
Flag which SKUs are natural health products or drugs and require lot and expiry control.
Capture batch at receiving for every cosmetic, even though the regulation does not require it on the label.
Note which lots carry a new label version when a label changes.
Keep sanitation and pest-control records for the storage area.
Where to go next
Lot tracking
Keep batch identity from receiving to the pick line.
See detailsReturns workflows
Record condition and disposition before a return goes back to stock.
See detailsFeature hub
Review barcode, lot, billing, and portal capabilities.
See detailsWorkflow hub
Connect the sector rule to the station that must change first.
See detailsComposite operating scenarios
Use disclosed composite scenarios to keep planning grounded in operations.
See detailsEcosystem data exchange
Review CSV, Next Movement, and scoped data handoffs that shape the sector flow.
See detailsPricing
Plans from $699 CAD a month for one warehouse, with unlimited users.
See detailsImplementation
Review the rollout path before the evaluation turns into a risky cutover.
See detailsFrequently asked questions
Does Canada require expiry dates on cosmetics?+
Who must notify Health Canada about a cosmetic?+
How are cosmetic recalls handled in Canada?+
Does a 3PL need to register under the US MoCRA law?+
Can WarePulse separate natural health products from cosmetics?+
Anchor the evaluation to the hardest rule on your floor.
Start with your item master: which products need lots and expiry dates by law, and which only need them for a fast recall.
Plan the next evaluation step
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