The single worst scenario a retailer can face is an out-of-stock situation, particularly during crucial holiday and limited life seasons. Retailers are already preparing for the much-anticipated two biggest revenue driving holidays: back-to-school shopping and winter holiday season, and doing their best to get a handle of the right levels of inventory. Why? There is no quicker way to simultaneously diminish brand value, lose customer loyalty, expose consumers to competitive brands, and miss revenue goals than to suffer from stock-outs. The introduction of omnichannel shopping has created an even tighter strain on fulfillment as most retailers silo their inventory on a channel-by-channel basis. The result? Unprecedented levels of out-of-stock inventory. So how much does this impact retailers in the eye of the consumer? GT Nexus issued a survey to over 1,000 consumers across the US to uncover how stock-outs impact their shopping behavior.

1. 75%
38%
33%
58%
65%
Consumer
Pain
The Cost to
Retailers:
Eroded Sales
and Brand
of all US adults have
suffered from an
unavailable product
in-store in the last 12
months (63% online).
of US shoppers
experienced in-store
stock outs often or very
often in the last year
(26% online).
of in-store shoppers
blamed the retailer
when a product was
unavailable.
of in-store shoppers
became lost sales –
where shoppers bought
from another retailer
or did not buy at all.
of online shoppers
became lost sales.
Retailers are investing heavily to lure customers in, but they’re
leaking significant amounts of revenue on the back-end, losing
sales and brand equity. Retailers have a considerable amount of
work to do to ‘network’ their supply chains and enable smoother,
more agile delivery of goods to meet demand.
Retailers invest heavily to draw
customers but lack capabilities
to meet demand.
SOURCE: YouGov study conducted on behalf of GT Nexus,Aug. 3-4, 2015