Leave Shoppers Feeling They’re Not Sold Out

Reverberating from the coronavirus pandemic are consumers’ emotions around retailers running out of any product. After all, tummy troubles were not primary symptoms of COVID-19 itself among most of those infected, yet frantic searches for toilet paper supplies were enough to implant memories of frustration, anger, and a flood of upset stomachs.
     Consumer behavior studies about the effects of out-of-stock (OOS) situations go back to at least year 1963. A recent study at The University of Texas-Austin, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, and Kyung Hee University asked what it’s best to call an ecommerce OOS. It was ecommerce searches which for many consumers became the source of last resort.
     The answer about labeling was to use the term “sold out.” This resulted in better customer reactions than did the term “out of stock” or “unavailable.” The outage didn’t produce as much outrage.
     The researchers say that when people hear “out of stock,” they think of problems with the supply chain. The retailer failed to place an order on schedule or did not conscientiously track the order. The supplier’s production broke down. The shipper failed to deliver on time. For all of these, somebody had betrayed the customer.
     “Sold out” has the implication instead of product demand which the retailer could not have been expected to anticipate. In the study, participants judged “sold out” to be caused by unexpected sales and therefore to be of shorter duration than when “out-of-stock” is used.
     The label “unavailable” carries a burden of ambiguity. The label might be okay in a brick-and-mortar store setting, where a shopper could easily ask why the item is unavailable. In ecommerce, getting the explanation wouldn’t be nearly as easy. In the study, “unavailable” was seen by some participants as due to bad luck beyond the control of the retailer. However, the label still resulted is a greater degree of shopper disappointment than did the “sold out” wording. The researchers acknowledge that Amazon has used “unavailable,” so at least one hugely successful retail has found it acceptable.
     When labeled well, an OOS might be turned to your subsequent advantage. Indiana University-Bloomington, University of British Columbia, and Northwestern University research found that loyal customers who encounter an OOS become more likely to shop with you when discounts on high-demand items are announced. Those who have repeatedly purchased a small set of items from you will desire those items even more strongly.

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