Real-Time Inventory Check---Worth it or not?

[gwillr]

I am with an online retailer in a business with many competitors, in a sector with not much differentiation, other than price and customer service.

The product, a replenishable one that consimers need ona day-to-day basis, and one that many can not go without, is one that when ordered, it is imperative that the customer must get it quickly.

Our CEO is leading us in a customer-focused directon.

We are trying to decide whether a real time inventory system is a worthwile project. What is in mind, is that when the customer finalizes adding items to a basket, the application will check a database to see that we have the items/quantity of items in stock.

Has anyone got any insight on this??

an argument against one, is that some customers may go elsewhere (to a site with a general statment like "item normally in stock"---when in fact it is not) of our stock check is showing zero.

The rebuttal is that we must remain customer focused...and in the long run, the correct information and reliable/timely shipment is the most important.

I am simply trying to decide on whether it would be worth the development dollars to implement the systems needed for such an application.

Any comments/insight/experiences with this would be helpful.

Gary

http://www.robarspages.ca

 

[DaRNCaT]

To impliment that kind of solution, AND have the data shown on the website timely and maeningful, you would need to be hosting the server within your company, and have your company stock inventory kept on the server connected to the website- so basically the stock is in a database accessable via the website. Security here would obviously become an issue, but if your webmaster knows what they are doing it can be reasonably secure.
I would suggest rather than showing the customer if you have items in stock after they have added them to their basket, you would have your pages dynamically driven, and they would show stock quantity in realtime, as soon as an item is purchased, it is removed from the database inventory.
You would have to run this with order completeion checks as with any type of inventory control.

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Sometimes, when my code just won't behave, I take it outside and make it listen to britney spears music, and when it comes back it's really well behaved. I wonder if it's suffering from post tramatic stress syndrome now..

 

[TruthInSatire]

I've made a cart or two in my time. What I would do is NOT show the quantity on hand right on the page. If a customer orders under the max quantity, fine. if not give them a message to say "we can send (quantOnHand) right away the rest will ship in x to x business days." then give them the option to continue with the order or only order the number on hand.

if you don't have any product (0) don't display (0) on the page. display, "product can ship in x to x days". that would keep them from leaving if you have 0 if they know they'll still get it in a reasonable time.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

 

[ChrisHunt]

Hmmm... I suppose the factors you have to consider are:
[ul]
[li]The probability of a customer ordering an out-of-stock item[/li]
[li]The time it takes for you to re-stock out-of-stock items[/li]
[li]The reliability of your delivery system (cos if that takes ages, restock time becomes less significant)[/li]
[/ul]
If the above factors are LOW, you may be better off spending your money elsewhere. If they're HIGH, get coding! As DarnCat implies, you're looking at a lot of work integrating stock control & ordering systems with your website. It's not an unusual requirement, though, so look to see what's already available in the marketplace.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd