Product Availability:  A make-or-break battleground

Customers vote with their feet. 

And this is becoming an increasing problem for grocery retailers. Especially when it comes to on-shelf availability. 

We live in an era of convenience and instant gratification. Customers expect to get exactly what they want, exactly when and where they want it.  

Great for us as consumers, but for retailers working with paper-thin margins, it’s turning the humble store shelf into a make-or-break battleground.  

Every gap (in-store or digital) has the potential to erode customer loyalty, and with out-of-stocks stealing about 4% of retailers' potential revenue, retailers must take action.  

In this blog, we look at why product availability is becoming harder than ever, how retailers can look to mitigate potential loss, and what should be considered before implementing any solutions. 

Why product availability is more difficult than ever. 

Both in the US and the UK, brick and mortar grocery sales are expected to continue to grow, but traditional grocers are facing increasing headwinds.  

Warehouse clubs and discount retailers continue to steal market share, and the growth in omnichannel, from online to ultra-fast delivery, is making inventory management wildly complex.   

When coupled with ongoing in-store execution challenges, retailers are facing a perfect storm that ultimately makes on-shelf availability a greater challenge. 

Below, we explore some of the most pressing challenges that affect product availability and how they impact operational execution. 

1. Poor on-shelf execution

One of the biggest — and often overlooked — drivers of poor product availability is simple shelf execution errors: 

• Misplaced stock 
• Incorrect planogram compliance 
• Delayed replenishment 

Even when the inventory is in the backroom, it's invisible to customers if it’s not on the shelf. Poor shelf execution erodes customer trust and damages brand loyalty. 

2. Inventory Inaccuracy 
 
A retailer’s inventory record is the single source of truth that drives multiple in-store processes. From forecasting and replenishment to identifying phantom or shadow inventory, on-shelf availability is inextricably linked to your inventory record.  
 
Given that audits are conducted once or twice a year, records are out of date the moment they are completed. As a result, if your systems are telling your in-store teams you have stock, it’s likely that product gaps will persist. We have seen examples where products have been out of stock for over 2 months despite an inventory count of 83. 
 
3. Task fatigue 
 
One of the sad realities of retailing is that labor in-store is declining and, as a result, those that are employed need to take on more responsibilities. From cleaning spills and manning check-outs, to answering customer queries and conducting online picks, there is only so much time in the day.  
 
Because of this, store walks to identify gaps on shelves can often fall down the priority list. The problem is that this becomes a vicious cycle. The longer a gap isn’t identified, the longer an inventory record isn’t updated, which delays replenishment and decreases product availability for the shopper.  
 
4. A lack of actionable insights 
 
In-store teams are suffering from task fatigue and need direction.  
 
Traditional methods like manual spot checks or historical sales reports are too slow to detect problems in real time. Retailers need instant, actionable data at the shelf level to react before customers notice gaps. 
 
5. Data latency 
 
The lag between what’s actually happening on your shelves and when your teams become aware of it has long-term impacts on product availability.  
 
Inaccurate or delayed signals mean store teams are blind to real-time shelf conditions, leading to frustrated customers, disengaged employees, and lost revenue. 
 
We have written a great blog on the subject, which can be found here. 

6. The inevitable disconnect between online and brick-and-mortar. 
 
The rapid growth in omnichannel leads to complex fulfilment challenges as customers have access to products at the click of a button. But if in-store availability doesn’t match what’s being advertised in the online catalogue, the customer is unaware of problems until certain items are substituted.  
 
As already mentioned, whether it’s an in-store shopper taking the last item, data latency, in-store picks not being registered, or misplaced items, it’s easy to see how the disconnect occurs. 
 
This potential disappointment is further compounded by poor substitutions. After all, no one wants salmon instead of Phish-food ice cream. 

What can retailers do to improve product availability? 

In an age of immediacy, retailers need to ensure that their on-shelf availability is as accurate as it can be to ensure customer loyalty and improve omni-channel performance. 

But with technology improving and integration becoming more seamless, retailers face a welcome choice in how to tackle product availability.  Deciding what the right approach is can be daunting, but there are common tactics that many will look to apply. Examples include:  

• Manual gap scans 
  Retailers will use in-store teams to provide a simple yet manual solution. T 

• Inventory based on-shelf availability metrics 
  Store colleagues take on-hand data, adjusted by deliveries and sales through the checkout, to assess what is in and out of stock. 

• Nil picks 
  Retailers leverage nil-picks to determine their OSA, with the assumption that if an item is nil-picked, then it must not be available to purchase. 

• Computer vision 
  Cameras provide a real-time view of product availability. They are typically accompanied by computer vision software that provides actionable insights. 

• Robotics 
  These solutions provide a robot that patrols the shop floor scanning the shelves as they go. As with computer vision, software provides insights to the store. 

• AI and ML-based SaaS solutions 
  SaaS solutions will utilize readily available retailer data, processed through proprietary algorithms, to detect and alert on real-time out-of-stocks.  

If you would like a more detailed breakdown we have a great blog on the subject here. In it we compare six commons solutions retailers use as well as their accuracy, cost and whether CapEx investment is required. 

Alternatively, you can download our handy infographic here. 

 Why Acting Now Matters 

Every out-of-stock moment chips away at customer loyalty, damages your brand reputation, and leaves revenue on the table. 

With tightening margins and rising customer expectations, product availability is not just an operational issue — it’s a strategic growth lever. 

Retailers that embrace AI in retail technology to master on-shelf availability will win more sales, build stronger customer loyalty, and future-proof their operations against growing competition.