In Case Of Shortages…

With everything happening
in the world –
climate change disasters,
COVID,
other sh*t
– we are likely
to temporarily run out
of some of our products
now
or
in the future.

We won’t be able to
supply our products
to our faithful,
hard won
customers.

When that happens,
there will be bitter feelings.
Customers are loyal to us.
They expect us
to be there for them.

These customers will also
have to find replacement products.

The replacement products
could be purchased from the competition.
We could lose these customers
forever.

OR

The replacement products
could be purchased from us.

Maybe, for example,
we don’t have any
of the yellow product
but we have plenty of units
of the red product.
They are exactly the same
except for their color.

Or we don’t have the regular product
but we have the organic product
at roughly the same price.

Suggestion substitutions
on your website.
Perhaps mention them
on packaging.

Supply the replacement products.

Subscription Models And Supply

I love the concept
of Amazon’s Subscribe And Save
service.

We sign up to buy
often used products
and they are sent to us
monthly.
We don’t have to think
about buying these items.
We set it up once
and can forget about it.

Except Amazon
rarely has the items
in stock.

50% of my monthly order
isn’t available
this month.

Last month, 30%
of my regular monthly order
wasn’t available.
Those unavailable products
were different
than the products
unavailable this month.

I have to rush to find
and buy alternatives to them.
And that’s d*mn irritating.

It is easier
and more reliable
to simply buy
multiples of the items
we need
once
and store them
in our homes.

Don’t offer a subscription service
of products/services
unless you can secure
their supply.