Why is it...

[TheOtherVillainess]

when you ask a clothing retailer when they're going to get something in stock, they can't tell you?

TOV

 

[Serena]

For my store it's because we don't know. We don't know what we are getting until they open the truck up when it arrives. There are a couple things we do know ahead of time, but not much.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

It's just extremely frustrating. I wrote to the company, expressing my displeasure and I got a form letter back that read, "We're sorry you're upset. Our goal is to exceed customer expectations and hope you give us another chance in the future." That only frustrates me more, for some reason, because the style I need to buy is ONLY available on line.

I have checked their website at least once a day every day for the last month to see if they have the style/size/length I need in stock and they never do.

If I didn't have a gift card for their store, I probably wouldn't be shopping there at all and this really makes me NOT want to shop there in the future.

TOV

 

[sweetspicy]

For my store it's because we don't know. We don't know what we are getting until they open the truck up when it arrives.

When I worked at a retail store in college, it was the same way for us.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Why is that I wonder? Do they LIKE their store mgrs to play "Guess the Shipment" or something?


*ETA--after emailing the company back and forth and not getting a straight answer, I finally found a cust svc person who told me the truth. The item I want is now on clearance, so good luck at finding what I need. I'll have to buy the more expensive version of the item which I didn't really want to do, but it seems I have no choice in the matter. Needless to say, this particular store will NOT be getting my business again. Unless somebody gives me a gift cert or whatever and I don't have a choice. ***

TOV

 

[debster812]

I work in retail. Not in clothing retail, but AV/Electronics.

Product procurment is a guessing game, at best, until the containers with the product have cleared customs. Until those containers are cleared, they do not exist in this country. Manufacurers can 'guesstimate' ETAs, but you can't put anything in stone, until the goods are onshore.

Then once you get them through customs, they have to go to the manufacturer's warehouse here in the US, and then get sent out to regional warehouses, or retailers' warehouses.

You can guesstimate, but it really is an inexact science. And for most retailers, Store Managers are generally not in the communication loop with exact ETAs.

I know this isn't the answer you want, but this is how it is for my company

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Thanks deb..and everybody else for that matter.

The most frustrating part of this whole thing has been that I had to email the company several times before I got a cust svc person who would tell me the item was on clearance, they weren't getting anymore in that size/length/style, etc. Why couldn't they just tell me that the first time I asked?

TOV

 

[bicker]

Also, keep in mind that there would be a significant cost to applying enroute inventory tracking, a cost that almost surely wouldn't be substantiated by additional revenues from customers for having that information. Generally, when buying clothing, customers care whether you have the item right now or not. They won't be willing to pay much more for clothing in return for being able to track an incoming shipment like that.