Availability and inventory levels are useful for grocery shopping, not least because substitution is a major issue and causes dissatisfaction and hassle for consumers. The slight issue in grocery is that keeping perfect real-time inventory is extremely difficult due to the high volume and fast turnover of products as well as the enormous number of SKUs. That’s probably why an indication is best rather than trying to provide accurate stock levels.

When I have received low inventory alerts it has generally triggered my “competitiveness gene,” ensuring I hit the Buy It Now button. Perhaps that is not the right move when dealing with perishable items, as the quality and/or condition may not be ideal. My gut tells me that grocers don’t have very good real-time inventory tracking, and even less so with perishable items. But if I’m making my world famous scungilli salad and there’s only one can of conch left one the shelves, I’d like to know so I’m not caught short.

Is there anything more frustrating than having your delivery of groceries, without warning, come up short? Other than not getting the delivery at all, I am sure this leads the complaint list.

I imagine the second biggest complaint is when the in-store shopper makes a substitution, and it is an unacceptable substitution.

Making the online shopper aware of inventory levels lets the shopper choose an alternative or change their plans entirely. Whole Foods does this already. I have seen the decision process, and it is positive.

Pros:

• Transparency and honesty;
• Encouraging purchase;
• Proactive substitution.

Cons:

• Problems with accuracy/honesty (don’t be the boy who cried wolf);
• Competitive disadvantage;
• Exposing data challenges (e.g., inventory systems, substitutions).

Pros: Honesty. Cons: None that I see.

Out-of-stocks erode goodwill. Shoppers must do without an item or shop elsewhere, foregoing the promise of convenience.

Pros of advising customers of low inventory include building trust with transparency and showing that the grocer cares about the customer experience. Cons include customers shopping elsewhere to avoid availability issues and grocers needing to invest in inventory visibility.

Most grocers have limited visibility into their actual inventory. Loblaws is phenomenal at advising of low inventory and offering a choice among three substitutes.

The biggest challenge here is grocers having visibility into inventory levels. If a grocer has dedicated online inventory then it is less problematic than if they are pulling inventory from a store where customers shop. Since the inventory in a common store is not real-time, they have little idea of the actual inventory levels. The goal should always be perpetual inventory, and real-time visibility into what’s in-stock. This is a real problem and one that won’t be quickly solved. 

There is some very interesting psychology at play here. Typically people are more inclined to buy something if they feel it may be in limited supply. In this case, however, shoppers have been burned so much by out-of-stocks and poor quality substitutions that they are acting more rationally than normal.

I believe inventory alerts have many merits, both as an industry analyst and a consumer. As an analyst, I certainly think that “forewarned is forearmed” applies here: low-stock alerts can help people manage their choices — and their urgency — while also minimizing frustration when stockouts do occur for items where they have been alerted. As someone who shops for groceries exclusively online, I can attest to the notion that the stores that fill my orders completely most often earn my highest loyalty, and low-stock alerts help me ensure higher rates of “perfect shops.”

Letting shoppers know when the inventory of an item is low provides the shopper with a most important element when shopping — choice. They can make the decision to order the item knowing it may not be in stock or choose to order an alternative. It’s their choice and not that of the grocer’s staff or a shopping service.

Possible stock outages and unwelcome substitutions are the primary reason I continue to do my own grocery shopping. My confidence level in online shopping would go way up if I learned to trust low inventory alerts.

I appreciate the effort when retailers provide low inventory alerts. Even if they are directional in nature, it provides a piece of intel that is important to consumers, enabling them to make decisions they otherwise might not be inclined to make.

Target tells you when stock of an item you are looking at in a store is low, in fact it gives you the number of that item left. It makes me act fast if it’s something I need.

As a consumer, I would much rather know when an item is low on stock so I can make my own decision, rather than having to have to go without or have to look for a substitution. Being transparent about inventory levels can only be helpful to a shopper.

Perpetual inventory and the ability to drive an outstanding commitment to promising availability to grocery customers have become the Holy Grail in the supermarket industry. One of the most friction-filled experiences along the shopping journey has been the challenge of finding the right product at the right price and the right location.

With the rise of e-commerce fulfillment, grocery customers expect clear and transparent communications and alerts on inventory availability. The customer expects this and wants to control which products are available for substitutions. With these capabilities, grocery companies will lessen their dependencies on Instacart and vertically integrate the entire micro-fulfillment customer journey. Real-time and accurate inventory availability capabilities are a true competitive differentiator.

It’s interesting that this is even a question. The shopper e-commerce experience is all about known inventory levels. You walk into a store and you’re disappointed but not surprised to find an out-of-stock. You adjust. But Amazon and other online sellers indicate how many items remain for purchase. Target as well, as is cited in these comments. This is a minimum level shoppers expect from e-commerce. But grocery e-commerce orders fulfilled by supermarkets are most often picked from the floor. That dynamic environment is an inventory accuracy nightmare — accurate inventory there may be an impossibility. If it’s my turn to bring the drinks to soccer, I’ll clear out a few shelves. There goes the inventory. Closed automated grocery fulfillment systems are being used by some supermarkets to get to inventory accuracy. The primary focus might be labor reduction but these systems offer a high percentage of ordered items from dedicated inventory with inventory visibility and accountability. Bravo to supermarkets for making e-commerce fulfillment from stores work. Phase in next-gen inventory accuracy to achieve order… Read more »

Assuming that the money spent putting this in place can’t be more wisely used to ensure that inventories don’t run low in the first place, I think this is a shopper benefit — if it’s halfway accurate. Being the skeptic that I am, when I see an “only five left” I think it’s just a persuasion to buy, not necessarily truthful — particularly if I do buy and check back later and still see five left. I mean, how hard is the arithmetic behind keeping online inventory correct post-purchase?

First and foremost — retailers need a real-time perpetual inventory process to support their own operational requirements, especially precision re-ordering, to meet present and anticipated demand. Sharing that view with digital shoppers would be a second-order benefit, but it comes with perils.

Why? Because of the time gap between when an order is placed online and when it is fulfilled from store shelves. During busy sales days, even an hour can mean the difference between a perfect order or one with critical missing or substituted items.

Warning shoppers about low-stock situations seems righteous, but could lead to worse disappointments or the perception of being “played.” Trust may be built for this over time, but that will take impeccable execution.

Impeccable execution means managing On-Shelf Availability to the highest possible standard, so that instances of low-stock and out-of-stock are rare. I’d propose that retailers measure and manage the frequency of low inventory alerts and substitutions as key performance indicators. The percentages should be vanishingly small.

Yes. OOS are a huge problem since retailers have issues keeping products in stock due to logistical shortages and unavailability of labor to keep the shelves properly stocked.