All,
Ever been to a big supermarket and got fed up because they were out
of stock of something (usually bread, fruit or vegetables) ?
I've been getting progressively fed up with going out to do the
messages (=shopping) and only coming back with half the things I
need because the supermarket was out of stock. In particular, I buy a
lot of fruit and veg and the problem is particularly acute with
these items. It wouldn't be any problem at all if I was living on
the traditional Scottish diet of sweets, biscuits and crisps as can
be seen by attending any William Low's or Presto's who have 1/4 of their
stores devoted to such non-essential items. Sweets and crisps hardly
ever seem to be in short supply!
This problem of running out, known as Moscow Syndrome because you
get about as much choice as you would do if you were shopping in
Moscow (ie none), is all the more suprising considering the advances
which have been made recently in automated stock management (ie EDI).
Stock management is not that difficult!!! If you keep running out
of something in the middle of the afternoon then you make more of it!!!
Does it really take a lot to see that? I wrote a program when I was
16 which won me second prize in Young Programmer of the Year - this
program worked out reorder levels by analysing stock usage and varying
the reorder levels from week to week - can't the big stores do the same?
This running out of items seems to be a peculiarly British phenomenon.
When a friend was visiting from the US, she couldn't believe the
rows and rows of near empty shelves when the shop was claiming to be
"open" and actually took several photos of them to send to the folks
back home.
I had an interesting experience with Sainsbury's the other week along
these lines. I went one Monday night and got the most fantastic choice
I'd ever seen - every shelf was full of the highest quality produce.
The next week at the same time, it was back to Moscow Syndrome again.
I wrote to them and asked why they could pull it off one day and not
every day. Since it was a new store, I suggested that they had made
a special effort because perhaps The Queen was coming to open the
store in the morning. The reply reads:
"We fully accept all your criticisms and the Store Manager, .., was
himself embarrassed by the standards on (sic) that department that
evening."
"Your observations were quite correct regarding the possible "Royal
Visit" the week before. It was actually our Company Chairman who
was visiting us the following morning, but let me assure you again
that we have taken steps to ensure the Produce Manager maintains
those standards for the people who really matter".
This week when I went, there were no pitta breads for the third
week running and there were also no bananas. ho-hum. Getting fed
up at this, I went to Safeway's who had virtually shut down their
entire fruit and vegetable section because there was virtually
nothing to sell! The chap I confronted at Safeway's said that it
was like this every week.
The episode with Sainsbury's goes to show that when a supermarket
really wants to do so, it can have full shelves with excellent produce.
However, most of the time it really can't be bothered and is more
interested in pandering to senior management rather than caring for
the consumers who give them their profits.
I'm not trying to single out Sainsbury's here, in fact at least
Sainsbury's have acknowledged the problem and tried to do something
about it. All the supermarkets are guilty of poor stock managment,
unlike of course in the US where the customer reigns supreme.
Perhaps a debate on usenet about who is the best at keeping full
shelves might go someway to improving customer choice.
Please email replies as I don't have read access to this group yet.
Craig
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Craig Cockburn, c/o Room 150, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 1DJ
E-mail: lss...@dcs.napier.ac.uk Phone: 031 556 9578
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Ga\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.
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