Whistl publishes Stock Levels Research study
Stock and delivery management are vital.
Whistl has published the findings of its new Stock Levels Research, which indicated that 51% of UK online shoppers who find an item is not available on a retailer’s site will head straight to a competing site.
The research also found that 18% of Brits would avoid repeat custom with a retailer after just one occasion where lack of stock has been the main issue, and 17% would buy elsewhere if their item isn’t in stock within just a 24-hour period.
The Whistl research also indicated that when it came to stock notifications, ‘Low Stock’ gave Brits the most sense of urgency to buy online that day (78%), followed by ‘X people are looking at this now’ (45%), ‘X users have looked at this today’ (40%), and ‘X users have bought this today’ (23%).
Regarding the products that were causing the stock issues, 42% of the shopper said that in-demand fashion items caused the most stock problems, followed by food and drink (16%), technology (15%) and entertainment (8%).
Melanie Darvall, Director of Marketing and Communications at Whistl, commented: “It was interesting to see how stock levels can affect consumer behaviour. We knew that there would be some influence, but we certainly weren’t expecting it to have such a large impact as our findings have shown.
“It was particularly insightful to see how people react when they see a notification of low stock on something they want (or think they want). The fear that it may be snapped up by someone else if they don’t act quickly typically makes them purchase immediately in order to avoid disappointment.
“It may seem obvious, but stock management is essential to effective and prosperous retailers as the alternative is customers becoming disappointed, and taking their business elsewhere.”
See the full findings at: Whistl Stock Levels Research
