A stockout, or out-of-stock (OOS) event is an event that causes inventory to be exhausted. While out-of-stocks can occur along the entire supply chain, the most visible kind are retail out-of-stocks in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (e.g., sweets, diapers, fruits). Stockouts are the opposite of overstocks, where too much inventory is retained.
According to a study by researchers Thomas Gruen and Daniel Corsten, the global average level of out-of-stocks within retail fast-moving consumer goods sector across developed economies was 8.3% in 2008. [1] This means that shoppers would have a 42% chance of fulfilling a ten-item shopping list without encountering a stockout. Despite the initiatives designed to improve the collaboration of retailers and their suppliers, such as Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), and despite the increasing use of new technologies such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) and point-of-sales data analytics, this situation has improved little over the past decades. [2]
Recent surveys on retail out-of-stocks suggest that instore operations are fundamental to reducing retail out-of-stocks. [3] Around 70-90% of stockouts are caused by defective shelf replenishment practices, as opposed to the 10-30% resulting from the upstream supply chain, such as a shortage of supply from a supplier. [4] This broad knowledge offers retailers the opportunity to improve on-shelf availability through internal measures. However, it requires a detailed understanding of the causes of out-of-stocks.
A shortage of working capital may limit the value of orders that can be placed each month. This could be caused by poor cash flow management or other inventory issues such as too much cash tied up in high levels of excess.
Stockouts frustrate shoppers and force them to take a number of corrective actions that are beyond the retailer's control. Understanding how consumers respond to stockouts is therefore the starting point for retailers who wish to improve on-shelf availability. [5] When shoppers are unable to find an item that they had intended to purchase, they might switch stores, purchase substitute items (brand switch, size switch, category switch), postpone their purchase or decide not to buy the item at all. [6] Although these responses differ in severity, each entails negative consequences for retailers. Stockouts cause lost sales, dissatisfy shoppers, diminish store loyalty, jeopardize marketing efforts, and obstruct sales planning, because substitution disguises true demand. Moreover, shopper surveys reveal stockouts to currently be the most prevalent annoyance to shoppers. Shoppers spend a considerable amount of time looking for and asking for out-of-stock items. [7] Shopper response to stockouts has been investigated by researchers with respect to cognitive response (e.g. perceived availability), affective response (e.g. store satisfaction), behavioral response (e.g. brand switching) and aggregated response in terms of category sales effects. [8] Studies find shopper response to out-of stocks depends on brand-related antecedents (e.g. brand equity), product and category-related antecedents (hedonic level), store-related antecedents (e.g. service or price-oriented), shopper-related antecedents (e.g. shopper age) and situational antecedents (e.g. purchase urgency). [9]
Depending on the shopper response to an out-of-stock, manufacturer and retailer incur various losses. [10] Both manufacturer and retailer face a direct loss of the potential sale when a consumer faces an out-of-stock because the shopper purchases the item at another store or does not purchase it at all. Additionally, when a substitution is made, the retailer also loses an additional portion of the potential sale because the shopper tends to switch to smaller and/or cheaper substitutes. [3] In addition to the direct losses, both the retailer and the manufacturer incur additional indirect losses due to decreased customer satisfaction that results in less overall reliance on the particular retailers and brands. When an out-of-stock leads to purchase at another store, this provides the consumer an opportunity to try a different store. Consumer behavior theory argues that trial precedes adoption, and, thus, an out-of-stock sets the stage for possible permanent store switching. When an out-of-stock leads to purchase of a competing brand, the consumer trial can lead to possible permanent brand switching as well. [3] Research findings show that a typical retailer loses about 4 percent of sales due to having items out-of-stock. A loss of sales of 4 percent translates into an earnings per share loss of about $0.012 (1.2 cents) for the average firm in the grocery retailing sector, where the average earnings per share, already is about $0.25 (25 cents) per year. [3]
Identification of stock levels can reduce out-of-stocks. [11] The traditional method is to perform a manual audit of the store and manually look for "gaps" on the shelves. Due to differing sales velocities and replenishment schedules, the effectiveness of manual stockout audits depends heavily on their frequency and timing, and on avoiding human counting errors. [3] A second method makes use of point-of-sale data or, more specifically, scanner data. Based upon historical sales data, the latency period between sales is taken as a gauge of whether an item is on the shelf. It is a preferred method for investigating fast-selling retail items, such as soda cans. [12] Out-of-stocks may also be identified by using inventory data, depending on its accuracy. [13] Finally, various types of technology, such as RFID, shelf stoppers and weight or light sensors, can be used. However, these technologies are so far not equipped to monitor the condition of the retail items (e.g. undamaged labels).
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is synonymous with supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries.
Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scholars which identifies one group of shoppers as recreational shoppers, that is, those who enjoy shopping and view it as a leisure activity.
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products. Sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing; sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing: it does not always result in a purchase.
Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it. This can be done directly by the producer or service provider or using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. The other three elements of the marketing mix are product, pricing, and promotion.
Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing communications for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include contests, coupons, freebies, loss leaders, point of purchase displays, premiums, prizes, product samples, and rebates.
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acquire the goods, the manufacturing cost, the marketplace, competition, market condition, brand, and quality of product.
Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour. Consumer behaviour emerged in the 1940–1950s as a distinct sub-discipline of marketing, but has become an interdisciplinary social science that blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, anthropology, ethnography, marketing and economics.
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, candies, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dry goods, and other consumables.
Planograms, also known as plano-grams, plan-o-grams, schematics and POGs, are visual representations of a store's products or services on display. They are considered a tool for visual merchandising. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a planogram is "a schematic drawing or plan for displaying merchandise in a store so as to maximize sales." The effectiveness of the planogram can be measured by the sales volume generated from the specific area being diagrammed.
Scan-based trading (SBT) is the process where suppliers maintain ownership of inventory within retailers' warehouses or stores until items are scanned at the point of sale. Suppliers, such as manufacturers or farmers, own the product until it is purchased by the customer, with the store or venue then buying the product from the supplier and reselling it to the customer. Analysts in the grocery sector estimate scan-based trading accounted for $21 billion dollars in consumer goods purchased in the grocery industry alone in 2020, or nearly 3% of overall sales.
Once the strategic plan is in place, retail managers turn to the more managerial aspects of planning. A retail mix is devised for the purpose of coordinating day-to-day tactical decisions. The retail marketing mix typically consists of six broad decision layers including product decisions, place decisions, promotion, price, personnel and presentation. The retail mix is loosely based on the marketing mix, but has been expanded and modified in line with the unique needs of the retail context. A number of scholars have argued for an expanded marketing, mix with the inclusion of two new Ps, namely, Personnel and Presentation since these contribute to the customer's unique retail experience and are the principal basis for retail differentiation. Yet other scholars argue that the Retail Format should be included. The modified retail marketing mix that is most commonly cited in textbooks is often called the 6 Ps of retailing.
Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990, selling most items at the single price of £1, including clearance items and proprietary brands. The first pilot store opened in December 1990 following numerous rejections by landlords who had reservations about allowing a single-price store to operate, fearing it could adversely affect the local competition. An estimated 7 million customers shopped in Poundland every week in 2016, many being female shoppers in the C1, C2, D and E categories. Following a drop in share price of over 50%, Poundland was acquired in August 2016 by Steinhoff International for £610m.
Visual Merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of optimizing the presentation of products and services to better highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage, and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.
An electronic shelf label (ESL) system is used by retailers for displaying product pricing on shelves. The product pricing is automatically updated whenever a price is changed under the control of a central server. Typically, electronic display modules are attached to the front edge of retail shelving.
Phantom inventory is a common expression for goods that an inventory accounting system considers to be on-hand at a storage location but are not available. This could be due to the items being moved without recording the change in the inventory accounting system, breakage, theft, data entry errors or deliberate fraud. The resulting discrepancy between the online inventory balance and physical availability can delay automated reordering and lead to out-of-stock incidents.
Shopper marketing is "a discipline that focuses on the customer experience and the customer journey."In shopper marketing, manufacturers target portions of their marketing investment at specific retailers or retail environments. Such targeting is dependent on the congruency of objectives, targets and strategies between the manufacturer and a given retailer or a given type of retail environment.
Return fraud is the act of defrauding a retail store by means of the return process. There are various ways in which this crime is committed. For example, the offender may return stolen merchandise to secure cash, steal receipts or receipt tape to enable a falsified return, or use somebody else's receipt to try to return an item picked up from a store shelf. Return abuse is a form of "friendly fraud" where someone purchases products without intending to keep them. Perhaps the best-known form of this abuse is "wardrobing" or "free renting" – in which the person makes a purchase, use the product(s), and then returns the merchandise.
The retail apocalypse is the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains worldwide, starting around 2010 and continuing onward. In 2019, retailers in the United States announced 9,302 store closings, a 59% jump from 2018, and the highest number since tracking the data began in 2012. Over 12,000 physical stores have closed due to factors including over-expansion of malls, rising rents, bankruptcies of leveraged buyouts, low quarterly profits outside holiday binge spending, delayed effects of the Great Recession, and changes in spending habits. American consumers have shifted their purchasing habits due to various factors, including experience-spending versus material goods and homes, casual fashion in relaxed dress codes, as well as the rise of e-commerce, mostly in the form of competition from juggernaut companies such as Amazon.com and Walmart. A 2017 Business Insider report dubbed this phenomenon the "Amazon effect," and calculated that Amazon.com was generating greater than 50% of the growth of retail sales.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
