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Not In Time Inventory

Sunday Aug 29 2010

 I use hearing aids and so am always looking for a deal on the batteries. Typically Walgreens has a buy one get one free on some battery package each weekend. Here is the photo of what i found stopping there on I believe a Tuesday or Wednesday. WAG was out of the batteries on sale. I asked the lady why they did not order more. Her reply was 'this always happens.'  We sell out of the ones on sale quickly. And she added, it is even more so with cigarettes. Like myself she wondered why the store did not stock more of what they knew would be in demand, especially when they select the sale items. 

IMG_0093  This sort of action only irritates customers. In the day and age of bar coding and computers there is really no excuse for such obvious outages again and again. But, have computers really helped us make better decisions?  Not unless the person programming and using the computer is aware of what he or she is doing. 

we study Just in time Inventory, a concept that Toyota has sued with success. I dub the WAG version

Not in Time Inventory. Have you encountered a similar situation in your shopping? Post your comment. 

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6 responses to “Not In Time Inventory”

  1. Alice D Hernandez Avatar
    Alice D Hernandez

    I deal with this often. I am always looking for good deals that come out with store adds. I go to the store in hopes of finding what they are advertising, and usually the items are out of stock. This situation does happen way to often. It is extremely furstrating! If this happens at one particular store to often, I tend to not shop at that store for a good while. I’m sure they loose plenty of customers because of this type of marketing.

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  2. John De La Rosa Avatar
    John De La Rosa

    Yes, I recently found myself in a situation similar to this where I ordered a laptop with a special price online, only to have it become back-ordered 10 minutes later from the time I made the purchase. I was later notified 4 days later via email that the laptop would not be arriving and that my order was part of those that were back-ordered.
    Needless to say I was feeling a little grrrr….

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  3. Normand Avatar
    Normand

    I am a former retailer and believe it or not this is done on purpose.
    Retailers that adopt this practice have experienced an increase in sales of a similar product at a higher price and obviously higher margin.
    Sure, there are people that get angry when they come into the store to discover that it is out of the advertised product but most customers, being already there to purchase that specific product, will get convinced by an experienced salesperson to upgrade to a better version of the product.
    Obviously, you will always have the less experienced salesperson who instead of convincing the customer to spend more money will commiserate with him.
    Such is life on the other side of the fence.

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  4. Roger D. Blaker III Avatar
    Roger D. Blaker III

    I completely agree with the direction that Normand took in this case.I to, am a frequent shopper to Walgreens so I am familiar with the specials that they run. They use the discounted rate as a marketing tool to get you into the store. Usually I go into Walgreens with one thing in mind and leave with at least one other item. A neighborhood Walgreens is not going to have access to a market like a larger chain would such as a Wal-mart. They probably figure up an exact number of items to order that will supply the posted discount while still not loosing out on too much money. Not a perfect practice but if the thought is correct, then it sort of comes across admireable from a business standpoint in my opinion. They have adapted to the market and have been able to stay successful.

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  5. Phillip Garcia Avatar
    Phillip Garcia

    One day I got an advertisement in the mail from Alco, and saw that they were having a sale on tray tables. I wanted this kind of table. Therefore, the next day I went to the local Alco store and did not find the table I saw in the advertisement. So, I asked a salesperson about the tray tables that were advertised for sale, the salesperson said that they were sold out and another shipment is due soon. I could not believe that Alco sold out this product the very next day. I learned a valuable lesson. If you see an advertisement in the mail of a product you want, go to the store that day!!

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  6. andrew sheets Avatar
    andrew sheets

    i believe Normand also becasuse if you stock a lot of the stuff that is on sale then you might end up losing money but if you dont stock enough and have enough of a simalar product then you will sell it and get more people in the store.

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