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Availability and how to listen to shoppers

Availability is a term used in the convenience industry to measure whether you have a product (or service) available for a shopper when they seek to purchase it in your shop. Good availability requires an investment of your money (to have the stock), your energy (to monitor stock levels and to match stock to the most common requirements of your shoppers) and your know-how (to stock the products that will make you the most money).

In discussing availability with retailers recently I notice that many measured availability differently. They chose to remember the occasions when someone asked for something unusual and they got the product in-store for the customer. In other words, they believed that their advantage in availability was the ability to get stuff that big grocers would not.

However, there is a danger that these retailers are missing out on an essential discipline. They pride themselves on fulfilling occasional requests but do not check that they are always stocking the top sellers that drive footfall and the top sellers that generate profits.

If you are offering shoppers an alternative product because they can't find a top seller, then you should be checking that you do not have an availability problem that is costing you money.
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