A stockout costs you far more than one sale. The customer who orders something you cannot send does not simply wait — they cancel, they tell people, and they buy from whoever had it. In Nepal, where import lead times can run to weeks and a single customs delay reshapes your month, stock shortages are not an exception to plan around. They are a normal condition to manage well.
Know your reorder point before you need it
Do not reorder when the shelf looks empty. Reorder when stock hits a number you worked out in advance:
Reorder point = (average units sold per day × lead time in days) + safety stock
If you sell 4 units a day and your supplier takes 20 days, you need 80 units just to cover the wait — plus a buffer for the week everything goes wrong. Set that number per product and let the system warn you, because you will not notice it manually across 300 SKUs.
Make lead times honest, not optimistic
Use the lead time your supplier actually delivers in, not the one they promise. Track the last three orders. If they said 15 days and delivered in 26, your lead time is 26. Optimistic lead times are the single most common cause of stockouts.
Never sell what you cannot ship
The worst version of a stockout is the one you discover after taking the money. This happens when your counter and your online store keep separate stock counts — someone buys the last piece in the shop, and the website happily sells it again an hour later. Keep one stock number shared across every place you sell, so the last unit can only be sold once.
Say it clearly on the product page
When something is out, do not hide the product and hope. Hidden products lose the search traffic and the customer thinks you never had it. Instead:
- Show Out of stock plainly, with a realistic return date if you have one.
- Offer a notify me option so the demand is captured instead of lost.
- Show the closest alternative right there — same category, similar price.
Decide your backorder rule in advance
Taking payment for something you do not have is a promise. It is fine for a product with a firm arrival date and a customer who knows exactly what they are waiting for. It is a refund request waiting to happen for anything else. Pick one rule and apply it consistently: either you accept backorders with a stated date, or you do not accept them at all.
Handle the shortage you did not catch
Sometimes the order is already paid and the item is genuinely gone. What separates a lost customer from a loyal one is the next hour:
- Contact them first — before they chase you. Speed is most of the apology.
- Give real options — wait with a date, swap for an alternative, or a full refund today.
- Refund fast if they choose it — a quick refund keeps a customer; a slow one buys a bad review.
- Add something small if they wait — free delivery on the next order costs little and reads as respect.
Look at what keeps running out
The same five products cause most of your stockouts. Once a month, list what went out of stock and for how long. That list tells you which items deserve a bigger buffer, a second supplier, or a higher price — because persistent shortage is also a signal that you are underpricing your most wanted product.
The short version
Set reorder points from honest lead times, keep one shared stock count so nothing is sold twice, be upfront on the product page, decide your backorder rule before you need it, and when it goes wrong, reach the customer before they reach you.
Comments
Be the first to comment.