econsultancy: Improving user experience when products are out of stock

Many studies on the phenomenon of shopping cart abandonment on shopping websites have concluded that 25% of user shopping cart abandonment is related to out-of-stock situations.

But in fact, the losses and severity caused by out-of-stock should be higher than 25%, because many users did not add the product to the shopping cart after seeing the out-of-stock situation.

In addition to causing the website to lose revenue, out-of-stock situations have other adverse effects, such as frustrating users, reducing satisfaction, leading to user switching, complaints, and negative word of mouth.

So how to solve the shortage problem?

The obvious first thing is that the “out of stock” notification should be visible to consumers immediately, rather than showing users a buy button. The question is what to do next? Thanks to existing technology, retailers can take action in real time to entice users to buy the product, either at that time or later.

Here are some approaches retailers can take:

Recommended alternative products

If a product is out of stock, you can always find a substitute that meets the user's needs, right? Personalized recommendations can increase sales by more than 30%.

Give a little favor

If the product you recommend is more expensive, it would be more attractive to offer some discounts.

Arrival notification

If your user is someone who has strong loyalty to your product, it is a good idea to provide an arrival notification option, whether it is through OICQ, email, WeChat, or SMS.

According to Luxury’s report, 71% of users want to receive arrival notifications. If used properly, arrival notifications such as emails can bring a 25% conversion rate.

Providing new options

If you are a multi-channel retailer, you can direct the user to the store closest to the customer that has the product in stock.

Finally, the editor of 199IT would like to mention in passing that some products cannot be delivered to certain areas other than those that are out of stock. This problem is particularly prominent in the delivery of large appliances and bulky items. When you have taken great pains to select large appliances to be delivered to second- and third-tier cities, the website tells you that the area cannot be delivered! This is undoubtedly extremely hurtful to the user's feelings. E-commerce websites still have a lot of room for improvement in this regard, including informing the delivery range in advance based on the IP address, and giving advance prompts based on the user's historical delivery area. For example, the reason why Yixun runs slower than Suning is largely related to the fact that its products "cannot be delivered to this area."

via: 199IT compiled from econsultancy