Still Trust Your Web Site? Don't

Retail Realities: Is A Product In-Stock? The Web Site May Have No Clue

(CBS)  This column was written by Evan Schuman, the editor of StorefrontBacktalk.com, a site that tracks retail technology, e-Commerce and security issues. Retail Realities will appear each Friday. Evan can be reached at e-mail and on Twitter.

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There needs to be a specially unpleasant place in purgatory for technology that works well most of the time but turns utterly worthless when it's most needed. These fair-weather products might include cellphones that don't have coverage in remote areas, anti-lock brakes that surrender on black ice in a blizzard and emergency batteries that decide that the beginning of a power outage is a ideal time to die.

E-commerce aficionados have their fair-weather product: Web sites that try and say how many products are actually available in a particular store right now. The techniques work decently at some of the larger retail sites-and absolutely horribly at almost manufacturer sites-but when it's truly critical for a consumer to know an accurate answer, it often doesn't offer one. Consider this scenario: It's Dec. 23 and you decide that, for various political reasons, you really need to get the XKZ 124, which is an incredible popular, reasonably-priced and fictitious video game (note: the only reason that it's reasonably priced is because it's fictitious, but I digress, as I tend to do). It's the hottest toy this holiday seasons and the news media are reporting that stores everywhere are sold out.

It's too late to cheat and go the typical e-commerce route so your quest is to find some store somewhere that has one in stock and that will hopefully reserve one for you, as you speed to the store. There's also a nasty blizzard going on (and you already know your ABS doesn't like ice) so you'd really rather just drive to the one place that has it. Being 2009, you sit back and let some price comparison shopping site bots do the work and find you something in the region that has it. And it finds one. For paranoia reasons, you call the store and finally get someone on the phone. They deny having any of the shelf. What happened?

The discrepancy is known as the supply chain black hole. Even if everything goes perfectly within the store (an unlikely event at any time, but virtually unheard of in late December), the system will know exactly how many XKZ 124s it had in the storeroom and how many it put out on the shelf. It also knows how many have been purchased so if it subtracts the purchases from the number it put on the shelf, it should have an availability number, right? Not quite. A lot can go wrong.

Beyond the easy stuff-such as someone shoplifting products or copies of the game following behind some boxes in the backroom and never getting out to the shelf--there's a big space between that shelf and those point-of-sale terminals. What if it’s in someone's cart as they are still working through the aisles in the store? Or in someone's cart (or arms) as they're waiting in line to pay?

There's also the lag time issue, a delay between when the purchase is made and when the database at the Web site gets that information and includes it in what it displays to consumers. Some retailers update once an hour, some once a day.

What's the bottom line for retail product availability data? If the product is not that popular and the store has a few copies lying around, the system will be accurate the vast majority of the time. But when the service is crucial because the product is ultra-hot, that's when the reliability of such product availability data becomes suspect.

That's the situation with retailers. Many manufacturers have their own e-commerce sites now and many try and say which of their retail distributors have the products. There are few colorful words that adequately describe how cosmically inaccurate those major brand manufacturer sites tend to be. Many of them are scared of stealing sales from their distributors so they avoid selling directly (or do it such a high price that sales are few) and send sales prospects directly to their retailers. But because their data is at least one step removed, it's often not even close, showing retailers who might not even sell that product anymore.

What makes this problem so painful is the sharp increase in the number of consumers purchasing merchandise through some retailers' buy-online-pickup-in store program. A few years ago, Best Buy came up with a costly but brilliantly simple method to all-but-guarantee precise availability data. They let the systems do their job but once the customer placed the order, the customer would be told to not make the purchase until the store e-mailed back. At that moment, a store associate would get an alert, run out to the shelf, grab one of the products and get it to customer service. Only then would the customer be told they were clear to pick it up.

Best Buy has since halted the practice, referencing the labor costs.
The ability to have precisely-accurate inventory data is unlikely to happen for several years, when some form of item-level RFID kicks in. RFID tags are tiny wireless devices that are attached today to some higher-priced items and they communicate to the store their exact location. This would theoretically allow a store to know about that product that was shoplifted, hiding behind the crate or is right now waiting in line to be purchased. Until then, the best option for a consumer is to simply call the store and verify availability before driving. That should be accurate, unless of course the 17-year-old temporary employee doesn't know what he/she is talking about. Then you're on your own.

Although not helping with product availability accuracy issues, one interesting site out there is trying to consolidate all of the Web product availability data to help consumers search for products based on who is claiming to have one in stock. Sometimes, when birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions sneak up on us, finding a store that has it in stock might be more useful than sorting by price or other features. The site, Krillion.com, literally steals (with permission) the data from various retailers. It won't make the supply chain black hole disappear in late December, but it might make finding availability a little easier in the meantime.

[smoknmirrors]

It's a tough life. But it's all we got. Let's hope it isn't discontinued or out of stock just when we need it. Isn't it always the way?

[mnbrant]

I have saved Mr. Schuman's web site, http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/, to my "Consumer Interests" bookmark folder.
Posted by goosfraba2 at 10:23 AM : Jun 12, 2009

I checked out the article. Not to worry dude as reading your license plate doesnt exist outside of maybe law enforcement. I guess retailers could read your plate but there is no corresponding data base for them to use. Using cell phones to track you doesn't work because they only send a code when you turn them on. I guess you can listen in on cell phone conversations but probably doesn't happen outside of law enforcement. I suppose cell phones can be tricked to transmit this signal but probably couldn't be used outside of law enforcement.

[jetranger7]

I checked with my local retailer ~~ looking for a really cute hott blonde chick - that could wash, do laundry and cook and clean,,,,, and hold a real job ~~~ Guess what - they didn't have any in stock,, their Dis-Continued ~ !!!! Go Figure

[mnbrant]

Hm I checked the availability of a small 3.5 cubic foot freezer at Target online and it worked just fine. I went in and they had exactly one of them. The funny thing is nobody but nobody else carried a small freezer in their store. I checked Best Buy, Home Depot, Kmart, Sears, Warners Stellian and others. Nobody had one. At 159.00$ it was a steal and is quite lovely. I am pleased.

[BC Kelly]

Simple solution ...

And indicative of what's gone wrong in America the past 40 odd years



Just don't get your kid the XKY 123 Video Game

Try to convince them they can probably live a rich full life without it

*IF* they do get that game, will it make their life fuller and richer ?

Or will it just be a time killer - merely entertainment ?


THAT is what's gone screwy in USA

We *must have* this or that

We *must see* the latest TV show, or Movie, or Football Game, or Amusement Park

We *must spend money* for all these *things*


You will not *win* because you died with the most *toys*

And shopping is not a therapy


Wake up America


Life is not defined by money, things, and entertainment



.

[goosfraba2]

Whoa, dude. First, thanks for the tip about Krillion.com; I've added that site to my "Shopping" bookmark folder. But that's not my biggest discovery from this article.

I also visited the author's web site, http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/, and the article, The License Plate Loyalty Card, is shocking! Everyone should read it. Other titles look ominous as well.

I have saved Mr. Schuman's web site, http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/, to my "Consumer Interests" bookmark folder.