An apparatus is described herein related to remote monitoring of perishable trade items in environmentally-controlled storage containers. Relevant changes in the container environment are detected through various sensors-based event detectors. A timer serves to trigger a plurality of distinct alert states, comprising pre-alerts and full alerts, following an event-initiated time threshold expiry. A data repository of generic merchandise data is accessed in order to derive suitable timer pre-sets in relation to time thresholds for alert states. An account configuration engine serves to customize the threshold presets to the specific items stored inside the container.