Subj : Re: Things that annoy you.. To : Michael Borthwick From : Arelor Date : Sat Apr 29 2023 04:57 am Re: Re: Things that annoy you.. By: Michael Borthwick to Nightfox on Sat Apr 29 2023 08:30 am > Ni> ehh.. If they said they had 10 available and let you order one, how is > Ni> it that they then have no stcok available? > > It happens regularly to me (just lucky I guess) - I'd hazard a guess and sug > nesses to have to write to their customers to tell them they don't have any > > Either that or they hope I will just choose something else from their stores > > ... "No comment" is a comment. > > --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64) > * Origin: third rock bbs: bbs.thirdrockbbs.au (21:3/179) I run an hybrid e-commerce / brick 'n' mortar business so I would like to comment on this. Even if you have tight inventory tracking coded in your system (so that your web application know how much stock do you have of every item), there still exists the possibility that the inventory has the wrong records. Typical example: a customer phones in because he wants to place a HUGE order for some items. I take the order by writing the details down on my hand and package everything in a hurry because if I don't deliver the order in 15 minutes, the delivery agency will take an extra day to deliver the package. Then I return home in order to update the inventories and find out some customer placed an order for the same item, which is now out of stock. Another example is items that rotate so quickñly that it is not worth it to track the inventory numbers. Items I rotate quickly, I tend to have loads of in storage. Whether you have 200 or 205 units of something does not matter much. Those usually get a dummy entry in the web-tracked inventory (such as 9999 or Infinity) because I am guaranteed to have mor than enough to fulfill typical orders. Finally, items that don't rotate much but have reliable providers backing them may also get a dummy inventory number. This applies to, say, high-end healthcare material. I have a small number of orthesic items in store. If somebody wants to buy three therapeutic wrist supports and the website has only one in store, he will go elsewhere to buy them. If I have a dummy number he will place the order. Since the provider is reliable, I can phone the manufacturer and tell them to deliver some extra wrist supports to me and I will get them in 12 hours. Since typical e-commerce deadlines for delivery are 48 hours for premium delivery, that allows me to fulfill the order on time even if I don't have stocks myself. Now, let me tell you, that if there is a problem with an order and you phone the customer ASAP and tell him outright what the problems are and what the solutions are, they tend to take it very well. I have found that people who pays for a premium delivery agency is usually not as bothered by delivery delays as they are about lack of transparency. If somebody orders stuff you can't serve in the advertised timeframe, you can always phone in and tell the customer: "Ok, we messed up with the inventory, so we have two options. You can let me send you a substitute item that does the same thing or you can wait three extra days and get what you ordered, plus we will give you back the delivery fee due to the delay." This way, I still get the sale, the customer is usually very happy anyway, but I would not have made the sale if the website advertised the item is out of stock. -- gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138) .