If you are interested in customer loyalty and all that goes along with it then do those of us who buy (at least try to buy) your products a favor.
Find a way to mark products on you website as out of stock / whether it can be back ordered / special ordered etc... (oh and my favorite, if it doesn't even exist other than as maybe a product that will make here next year just don't make it available for order).
Past 3 months.
-made one order, retailer charged my card, waited 3ish weeks. I called and was told the item, which was clearly advertised and available on the website, hadn't been seen in the US yet and their info was that the manufacturer was having issues with something on that cal in that model. And was told the normal 'could be weeks, could be months..." Then it took a week for the credit to go back to my card.
- unrelated order, different vendor, diff product... again clearly available on the website, website happily took my order and payment info. The only good part beyond that is that they DID call me soon after, but the story was something like... " Oh, we haven't that rifle in that cal come through from the manufacturer in months" Order was canceled before charge even went through.
- One of the same vendors but unrelated order attempt, Feeling like I'd get in front of the wait and see game... I called first... Everything went fine until I asked about timing. Answer was pretty simply and went something like "we'll ship it out within a few days of getting one in stock, we never know what we are going to receive from that manufacturer in any particular shipment"
Come on folks, I know an inventory control system can be expensive to set up and problematic to maintain but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. At least find the right way to describe and mark 'out of stock' or 'special order' items. Think about it, right now your customers (at least in my case) are the ones doing the work to find the products you clearly advertise as available.
Find a way to mark products on you website as out of stock / whether it can be back ordered / special ordered etc... (oh and my favorite, if it doesn't even exist other than as maybe a product that will make here next year just don't make it available for order).
Past 3 months.
-made one order, retailer charged my card, waited 3ish weeks. I called and was told the item, which was clearly advertised and available on the website, hadn't been seen in the US yet and their info was that the manufacturer was having issues with something on that cal in that model. And was told the normal 'could be weeks, could be months..." Then it took a week for the credit to go back to my card.
- unrelated order, different vendor, diff product... again clearly available on the website, website happily took my order and payment info. The only good part beyond that is that they DID call me soon after, but the story was something like... " Oh, we haven't that rifle in that cal come through from the manufacturer in months" Order was canceled before charge even went through.
- One of the same vendors but unrelated order attempt, Feeling like I'd get in front of the wait and see game... I called first... Everything went fine until I asked about timing. Answer was pretty simply and went something like "we'll ship it out within a few days of getting one in stock, we never know what we are going to receive from that manufacturer in any particular shipment"
Come on folks, I know an inventory control system can be expensive to set up and problematic to maintain but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. At least find the right way to describe and mark 'out of stock' or 'special order' items. Think about it, right now your customers (at least in my case) are the ones doing the work to find the products you clearly advertise as available.
