Out Of Stocks

Phil: Online consumers are very frustrated. We talk a lot here about out-of-stocks, where people are going into supermarkets, they're seeing empty shelves, they're seeing products that, you know, aren't making it through the supply chain, but now we're looking at a survey from lucid works that really looked at the eCommerce side of out of stocks. And what they're finding, which is fascinating to me, 58% of consumers at every visit online find a preferred grocery item, unavailable 58% of people it's unavailable. So this is their latest study. It's called shoppers stay hungry, online groceries on the internet in 2022 less than a third of E-grocery shoppers will stay on the same site or an app to find a substitute and 90% site, at least one product for which they won't accept a substitute due to ingredients preparation. 

Phil: And so on and half of respondents, almost half 47% said, they're gonna go to a different retailer if they can't find what they need on that retailer's app or website. It's really under important. And we've said this, you know for a while now, we're probably two or three years when I go on these eCommerce sites, whether it be third party sites or whether it be retailers own sites that the ingredients are wrong, the nutritional information is wrong. And if in fact we're relying on AI to be able to recommend that you have a different alternative if you're outta stock, but the data is wrong, you know, how can you get the right product? I mean, I just experienced that about a week or so ago, I placed an order for about 30 products and six of them were not available and the recommendations that came up, weren't even close to what I was looking for. 

Sally: Yes. And, and I've experienced this too, Phil. In fact, I ordered groceries this weekend and you know, I think about two thirds of my groceries came, you know, some of things that keep coming up, our bagels are out here, hummus, pretzel, chips, Gatorade. 

Phil: There's no way, there's no way that they're out. 

Sally: Yes. And a big one that's been for a while is saltine crackers. Those have been really hard to get as well. And, you know, I've stopped having my shopper make substitutions for, because, because I end up getting things that we don't want to eat and I paid for them. And so it is, I think this, this survey is really important because what, what the key component is, is that there's more communication or better communication that needs to happen between the retailer and the shopper. And what I've found interesting is that 80% are more inclined to make a purchase. If they're alerted when that product is low, when it's low in stock. And 60% prefer to be notified via email or, or, and 44% of text when something is back stock. So they want their retailer to tell them, okay, this is low. Now, go ahead and stock up or let them know when it's back in stock. 

Phil: So it's interesting. I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but I have never gotten either an email or a text, from a gross retailer that has said when a product is back in stock, I've, I've never gotten that.

Sally: That has never happened to me either. And you know, some of the people in this survey, 20% said that they would just like that, that item added to their virtual cart automatically when it comes back in stock. Yeah. And that seems that's, that would be a great benefit if you could opt into that. 

Phil: And it's, and it's a no-brainer, you know, from a technology standpoint to do so check out the survey lucid works it's a terrific survey and really, almost a Bible as, as we're really struggling to figure out where eCommerce is going or not.