Gun gripe - poor online retailing.

greg11

greg11

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Drayton Valley AB
I'm trying to track down a Leupold VXR Patrol in 3-9x with a TMR reticle. Boy, do the online retailers ever make this process difficult. They habitually list discontinued or out of stock items, which sucks because just when you think you've found what you're looking for you see "sold out."
I mean, if you're sold out, just park the listing and remove it. Not that hard.

And then there are the fellas you are pretty sure have the optic, but their websites aren't updated and your only recourse is to email them and ask. And then wait. Sometimes days. And then you realize they probably didn't get the email so you send it again.

How much money do these guys miss out on because they refuse to pay a guy minimum wage to sit down and plug their inventory into a spreadsheet and update it every day at 5pm? How hard is that?

Anyhow, I think there is a serious business opportunity out there for a store that has their online-game put together.
 
I almost like seeing what is available to be ordered in if possible.
They should have an option to show only in stock items, rather than just completely remove the listing (unless they can't re-stock). I guess some places have Point of Sale (POS) systems that track their inventory, others are still doing it manually (matching store sales vs online inventory). The POS costs a #### ton of money to implement and re-inventory all existing stock. Then more than likely your website will have to be upgraded to match the POS system... It is an expensive and time consuming process that majority of retailers won't spend $$ on.
 
I see what you mean about seeing available options fir ordering something in special. Except it seems to me that most stores don't really have much of an ability to source a particular item on command. They seem to do orders at intervals and your item could be tacked on, but I don't know that they can snag a special item within a week or so. Maybe I'm wrong.

With respect to the POS, I think it would be a sinch to just go around with a pad of paper and a pen and write down the stock,transfer it to a website and just update it as things sell or new stock comes in. No need for an integrated system (although that would be preferable).

Regardless, I think a accurate online inventory, no matter how poorly done, would pay for itself. There are retailers here I straight gave up on ever dealing with because their sites are inaccurate.

It's like these retailers expect you to put in work in order for yoy to find the item you want. It doesn't work like that. Shopping should be very easy, and I spend my money at the easiest outlet.

If a business is all ready hip deep in the operations side of running a store (paying staff, rent, electric bill, paying for inventory, payroll, accounting etc) why not just put 1% more effort in and reach tens of thousands more potential customers?
 
Some retailers have a really poor web system and it becomes too time consuming to try and figure out if they have the product or not. When I seen such sites I avoid them. If they have the product that's great but when they do not carry the product in stock this should be indicated.
 
Then there is the stores you like and spend money at, but have no online store at all. Be nice to see if they have something in stock, ordered from elsewhere simply because I didn’t have time to drive over there and another shop had an excellent website that made it easy.
 
Uisge said:
Then there is the stores you like and spend money at, but have no online store at all. Be nice to see if they have something in stock, ordered from elsewhere simply because I didn’t have time to drive over there and another shop had an excellent website that made it easy.
Click to expand...

There exists this device called the "telephone" that allows you to instantly contact someone and get them to answer inquiries in real time.
 
Ar180shooter said:
There exists this device called the "telephone" that allows you to instantly contact someone and get them to answer inquiries in real time.
Click to expand...

Wow! Mind blown! Thanks for that! So they have a call centre? Ready to take my order whenever I want to place it? Maybe they have some paper catalogues and promotional VHS tapes! This is all very exciting. But being as the thread was about poor online retailing your comment about telephone ordering seems kind of out of place.
 
Ar180shooter said:
There exists this device called the "telephone" that allows you to instantly contact someone and get them to answer inquiries in real time.
Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing in regards to the OP’s statement:

“And then there are the fellas you are pretty sure have the optic, but their websites aren't updated and your only recourse is to email them and ask. And then wait. Sometimes days. And then you realize they probably didn't get the email so you send it again.”

Uisge said:
...But being as the thread was about poor online retailing your comment about telephone ordering seems kind of out of place.
Click to expand...

...But being as the thread was from 2 years ago... so does yours. :p
 
Uisge said:
Wow! Mind blown! Thanks for that! So they have a call centre? Ready to take my order whenever I want to place it? Maybe they have some paper catalogues and promotional VHS tapes! This is all very exciting. But being as the thread was about poor online retailing your comment about telephone ordering seems kind of out of place.
Click to expand...

My point was you can call them and see if they have it, then order over the phone if they do. Many shops cater to walk in customers and building/maintaining an online POS system is cost prohibitive.
 
Ar180shooter said:
My point was you can call them and see if they have it, then order over the phone if they do. Many shops cater to walk in customers and building/maintaining an online POS system is cost prohibitive.
Click to expand...

I get that, sorry, sarcastic impulse took over. But I have honestly ordered online from another city to avoid a sometimes long and confusing phone call. Refusing to make an online store makes about as much sense as pumping out CD’s because iTunes (etc) is too expensive. Look how many stores have closed citing amazon, eBay, etc as too hard to compete with, the stores that survive do so by adapting. I still support my local store, but they would get more of my money if they put in the effort to compete.
 
I hear what the majority of you are saying. I am an old fogey but many of you are right because in this day and age, there is really no excuse for a poor retail web site. I do hate it when one of the stores that I have spent tens of thousands on over the years keeps on telling me that the item is sold over the phone and the next time they update their inventory, it is still there. There is also no excuses for no actual pictures.

Having said that I will tell people about one of my regular haunts that does get it, and they do get it right. Let me prefix this by saying that I have no affiliation with SFRC except only as a loyal customer. They don't have the prettiest web site and there is a lot of information on their home page to take in but the things that I do appreciate is that they 1, have pictures with brief descriptions. 2, up to date inventory on line. And 3, An interactive web site with real time updates.

One night I woke up at 3am and could not sleep so I started surfing SFRC's web site. I was on the site earlier during the day and nothing caught my eye but at 3am in the morning a new rifle appeared so I entered my info and bought it at that very moment. I refreshed the page and the item was marked sold and a generic email was sent to me that someone will contact me to verify my RPAL the next day. Once shipped, the item marked sold disappears from their site and they send a postal tracking number so that I have an idea where the package is at any given moment. They even had promo codes where this time around I saved on shipping (it's not a lot but it is the thought that counts). This is the way a web site should be run (IMO). I bought 4 rifles from them this year and they if I had any concerns they answered my email or phone calls, if not right away, in a matter of hours.
 
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