Why don’t supermarkets preempt “stuff”

[Iamnotagoddess]

Went shopping and though I’d get some ice lollies to stick in the freezer.

Four empty fridges where they had been totally raided.

Why don’t they preempt seasonal stuff?

At Christmas it’s mincemeat and sausage meat.

Bloody annoys me.

Why don’t they preempt seasonal stuff?

They do but there is a limit to how much stock they can carry. There is no apparently limit to the average Brit in "stocking up" mode.

Just look at the overbuying at Xmas and Easter faced with the threat of a whole day without the supermarket being open!

Our Tesco Express had cans of de-icer in yesterday!

They do a lot of predicting of what they will sell, but they will never get it 100% right. Think of how much of the stuff you do want is there; it's a miracle how it all appears. But yeah, very frustrating as a customer when the locusts have stripped a shop of what you wanted!

I know someone who buys for Tesco (not food but special events like World Cup, Royal weddings etc). It’s his neck if he under orders or overorders and they do it months in advance.
It’s not like they see the weather report for next week and call up Walls and say ‘oh you better double our usual order’ as every other supermarket would be doing the same and the manufacturers can only produce what they can produce! Logistics, budgets, capacity...

You can’t really predict the British summer. We don’t always have a heatwave in July and August, sometimes it’s a total wash out. They’d just be wasting money overstocking if a heatwave didn’t occur.

They do but there is a limit to how much stock they can carry.

Modern stores have tiny stock rooms are are wholly reliant on "just in time" daily stock deliveries.

My father was a High St supermarket manager in the 70s (Redmans). They had two stock rooms, both of the same size as the shop floor. One being the basement where they had huge walk in freezers and fridges and also where they kept the heavy stuff (tins, liquids, etc). The floor above was again, full size, for storing the lighter stuff, i.e. breads, biscuits, packets, and a strong room for tobacco products. There was probably 3 or 4 times the amount of stock in the stores as there was on the shop floor. In those days, you weren't reliant on "just in time" which was just as well because deliveries were more often weekly. It was also in the days when the manager did all the ordering (there was no tech capturing data from the tills!).

Brexit is going to be fun

maybe you should have pre-empted the heatwave?

I order online every week and got extra ice lollies (actually there was a box of rockets) delivered Tuesday ready for the 'hottest day of the year'

Just a thought .....

My Tesco was out of cucumbers too. There was nearly a riot!

I was shopping yesterday and popped into Clark's, hoping to get another pair of the comfy expensive flip flops that I have had from there the last few years. I found the dregs of the summer stuff + assorted shite from previous years on sale racks and all the normal shelving full of winter shoes. Fair enough if I was looking at the beginning of September but it's bloody July!

I was shopping yesterday and popped into Clark's

They'd have had beggar all in their stock room anyway. Whenever we go in these days, all they've been able to do is order them in. I can do that online myself from the comfort of home! They'll be the next High St store in trouble - it's crazy they have so little in stock. Just what's the point of a bricks and mortar shop without stock?

Ha ha I was in there a couple of years ago and the shoe on display was a 5. I asked the assistant if they had a five and a half and she went to check. She came back and said they hadn't got any in 5 and a half but "are you sure the 5 isn't ok?" Er, what you think I am going to pay £60 for a pair of too small shoes??????

She went on to suggest I ordered the bigger size online. Again I ain't coughing up sixty quid for a pair of shoes that I haven't tried on. I mean fair enough, if they hadn't got them they hadn't got them but suggesting I bought a size too small was astonishing.

Mind you they go to all that song and dance about measuring DCs' feet and then say "4E, oh sorry we've got nothing in a 4E so how about a 4F," which renders it all a bit pointless really, so I shouldn't have been all that surprised.

Sorry derailed thread a bit!

The local Morrisons looked like a desert on the cold meat section a couple of years ago and the woman told me that they sent fewer deliveries when it the Norfolk Show Wednesday-Saturday.
In the NAAFI it used to be impossible to buy a joint of meat when the Regiment was away on exercise, apparently families didn't have roast dinners when Dad was away.
Most supermarkets plan their ordering months in advance and while they will obviously stock more lollies in Summer they can't just nip out for extras when there is an exceptional weather event, that's up to us.

There is no apparently limit to the average Brit in "stocking up" mode,

You have obviously never seen a German cellar, their stocking up is legendary.

You want them to hold stock just for you because you didn't get there before the rush? Didn't you see the weather forecast?

Go to smaller independent shops for your ices - they're more likely to have stock and you'd help them survive.

@Kazzyhoward is correct. Our size stock room is tiny compared to the size of the store. We are relient on deliveries happening every night and early morning to be abke to keep stock on the shelves, let alone an extra supply in the back.

That's what makes me laugh sometimes about customers, they think we've some magical super storage area in the back, when in reality we really don't have that much room

Mind you they go to all that song and dance about measuring DCs' feet and then say "4E, oh sorry we've got nothing in a 4E so how about a 4F
This gives me an unreasonable rage. Especially when they then offer to give a you a free pair of insoles so they fit.

Pipandmum I find this really interesting.. What info is he expected to use to choose what stock to buy?

Like Elision said, it's a balancing act of not having enough stock vs not having too much which will go unsold.

Also supermarkets need stock from the manufacturers to sell in the first place. If demand for an entire category (e.g. cold drinks) increases suddenly over a few days, they can't just make more stock within that sort of a timeframe.

Sourcing ingredients and packaging for extra stock could take a manufacturer weeks or months. It may be even more difficult if any of the ingredients themselves are seasonal (e.g. made from fruit or veg) because the ingredient suppliers can't just grow more on demand in that sort of timeframe. When i worked in canned goods, some items were only produced once per year for that reason.

You could have gone to the jelly/custard/rice pudding isle and picked up some boxes of unfrozen ice pops (to freeze at home). I always have a couple in the garage just in case we run out of ice lollies. Pop them in the freezer over night.

I imagine a lot of it is down to manufacturers not being able to predict an increase in demand far ahead enough of time. They're not going to over produce a product on the off chance of a heatwave weeks in advance and risk losing money to wastage. Not to mention the added staff they would need to somehow predict that they need to recruit for and employ for such a short period of time to meet a temporary fluctuation in demand. The supermarkets can only stock what is available to them; it's probably as frustrating to them as it is to you, as obviously they want to sell as many ice creams as possible.

@Iamnotagoddess Iceland have plenty of them and haven't suffered from broken freezers like Sainsbury's over the road.

Touch wood they seem to be able to manage their freezers and seasonal demand.