Products Out of Stock? How to Solve Your Inventory Problem
What Does Out of Stock Mean?
When a product is out of stock, it is not available when someone is ready to purchase it (not on the shelf at a brick-and-mortar location or not available to ship from an ecommerce website). Occasionally a company’s main products may be out of stock, but stock problems often arise with promotional or discount products. Whatever the reason, it’s important for any business to stay on top of their inventory.
Consequences of Running Out of Stock
Out of stock problems or constant backorders are bad for your business. It can negatively impact the customer experience, and you need customers to be loyal, repeat buyers. When customers are frustrated, they are more likely to leave bad reviews and tell others negative reports. Those can discourage prospects from even visiting your website or store.
If you plan a promotion, you need that product to be available. It can be embarrassing to receive more orders than you can fill. When a customer is unable to receive the product they were expecting, they may turn to your competitors, especially if you disappoint them more than once.
Inventory problems can also eat up valuable staff work hours, which would be better spent creating amazing customer experiences, designing new products, and improving customer service.
How to Prevent Inventory Shortage
Out of stock control is really inventory control. And you can improve your inventory management through:
- Better Retailer-Manufacturer Coordination: Create a system to carefully prepare your suppliers for any promotions or times of greater demand.
- Improved Sales Forecasts: Prepare the most accurate sales forecasts possible, and make sure that your manufacturers have access and use them to plan their production.
- Define Inventory Accountability: Ensure that your staff members know exactly who is in charge of improving inventory issues and that a clear accountability structure is in place.
- Solve Procedure Problems: Find out if small issues are causing out of stock problems. Make sure shelves are always fully stocked and that deliveries are on time and received correctly.
You can also benefit from high-quality software that shares inventory data with your manufacturer, sends out of stock notifications or warnings, and more. Or you can have a third-party provider like Elite OPS take over your inventory management completely, so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Let the Experts Manage Your Inventory
Enjoy the peace of mind in knowing that your stock is in the hands of inventory experts with decades of experience and established, effective systems. Learn more about how our order fulfillment services can put your out of stock problems in the past. Contact Elite OPS now to make your inventory system world-class and delight your customers every time.
