One of the most irritating things for your customer is to find out that the product they want is out of stock. The fact that you are selling items means that people visit your site. When they find out that certain products are not available, they leave.
If a product is important to them, there is a good chance they’ll go to a competitor’s website and buy the item there instead. To avoid losing customers and sales due to out-of-stock items, consider these 6 proven methods to reduce dropouts and increase sales.
6 Ways to Avoid Losing Your Sales
1. Let product pages reflect the availability
Product out of stock is a common problem for e-commerce stores. It can be frustrating for customers, and it can be difficult to keep track of which products are available and which aren’t. But there are ways to deal with this problem if you know what to look for.
When a product is out of stock, there are the things you need to do:
- Make sure that your website reflects an “out of stock” message when a product isn’t in stock. This should happen automatically if you’ve set up your inventory properly – but if not, it’s worth checking your settings so that the site will let customers know when something isn’t available.
You can also alert yourself with the help of the Magento 2 out of stock notification extension. That way you can know when your products are going out of stock.
2. Let customers know when the product is back in stock
The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure each product has a “back in stock” date. If it doesn’t have one yet, add one! This will help you keep track of when your next shipment of the product should arrive.
If your inventory management system allows you to set up alerts based on inventory levels, set up an alert for when your back-in-stock date comes around. That way when you get an alert saying that your back in stock date has arrived or is close enough to arrive that it’s worth restocking the product you’ll know immediately so you can take steps toward restocking it.
Also, run a back in stock notification campaign with the help of Magento 2 back in stock notification to notify customers when items return so they can be purchased again. That way you can retain customers to a great extent.
Also read: What is Quick Order and Why does it matter in the e-commerce business?
3. Allow pre-ordering of out of stock items
You should allow pre-ordering of out of stock items because it will help you build a better relationship with your customers.
This will allow customers to secure their place in line while they wait for the product to get back in stock. They’ll feel more confident about making a purchase because they won’t have to worry about losing their spot in line if someone else purchases the item before them. This also allows you to start collecting payment for an order that won’t ship until after the item comes back in stock.
This will make people feel valued and appreciated by your company and that’s an excellent way to start building customer loyalty.
4. Offer similar products
When you’re dealing with out-of-stock products, the best thing to do is to offer similar products.
If you’re trying to reach a customer and they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll be frustrated. You don’t want your customers to feel like they’ve wasted their time trying to buy your product. You need to offer them something that’s similar, but also different enough that it can fill their needs as well.
If you could make a recommendation for something else that would work for them, then you can help them out without having to worry about losing potential sales.
5. Use a waiting list feature
When a product is out of stock, you can create a waiting list for that product. This means that any customers who purchase the item will be added to a queue, which will be updated every time an item is restocked. You can then prioritize your customers based on their position in the queue so that you’re always making sure your most loyal customers get first dibs on the product.
The waiting list allows you to set up automatic notifications for each customer when they are moved into their new position in the queue so if a customer buys an item and gets bumped up to number three, they’ll receive an email letting them know they can expect it within the next few days!
6. Showcase customer reviews and ratings on product pages
But we wouldn’t recommend hiding your out-of-stock products. In fact, if you do that, you might lose more customers than you’d expect. Here’s why:
1) It’s better, to be honest about what’s available than to make up excuses for why an item is sold out. Customers appreciate honesty and transparency, especially when it comes to their hard-earned money.
2) If an item is sold out but still available from another retailer, let your customers know about that too! If a customer feels like they’re getting the best deal on the internet for a particular item, they’ll probably stick around and continue shopping with you even if that means buying something else instead of what they originally wanted.
3) Finally, consider showcasing customer reviews and ratings on product pages for out-of-stock items even if they aren’t available right now. This helps customers get a sense of what other people thought about an item before they buy it themselves
Conclusion
Each one of these different strategies can help you deal with an out of stock situation on your product page. Not every strategy will fit every situation, but having various options to choose from will ensure that you’ll be able to get all your customers their products as soon as possible.
And with this list in mind, you should be able to avoid the common pitfalls and problems with out of stock products and avoid losing any sales whatsoever.