Retailers across the spectrum are losing potential sales from up to 20 percent of customers due to products being out of stock- and the consumer electronics business is most affected at all by this problem.
That's according to a study released this week by the IHL Group, called "What's the Deal with Out-of-Stocks." IHL found that consumer electronics consumers leave a store without buying anything 21.2 percent of the time- the highest rate of any specific category in the survey. Therefore, out-of-stocks (a category which also includes items in locked cases or out of the reach of employees) cause retailers to lose $1.35 for each customer that enters the store.
IHL found Fry's Electronics, CompUSA and RadioShack "best in class" in this regard, and OfficeMax, Office Depot and Circuit City worst.
"Retailers remain in denial when it comes to consumer's perceptions of out-of-stocks," the group's president,
Greg Buzek, said as part of the release of the study. "Consumers don't care why the product is not available. They come in with money to spend at the stores and have to leave either because the shelves are empty, there is no one to help get a locked item, or the staff simply cannot find the merchandise even though the computer system says they have it."
For more on the study, visit www.ihlservices.com
