It’s 1pm, do you know where your merchandise is?

It often boggles my mind how ignorant some stores can be about the functioning of their supply chains. The worst of all are often clothing retailers. Not only are they never selling clothes during the seasons when they’re needed – you have to buy fall clothes in the summer, winter clothes in the fall and shorts in the winter – but they are also blithely ignorant on when and even whether they’re going to get any more stuff to sell.

Take one well known brand’s shoe store in Espoo, where I went to inquire about kids’ shoes that their website was full of. In the store, however, they didn’t seem to have any. Here’s the conversation:

Excuse me, do you have any kids’ shoes?

“Not at the moment, no.”

Well are you going to get any?

“Yeah, usually we do get kids shoes later.”

Okay.. when would that be?

I don’t know really. They’re usually fall shoes.

So they’ll be here in the next few weeks then?

Maybe yeah.. or months.

Sheesh! Are you kidding me? And I wasn’t even asking after any particular shoe! This is by far not an isolated incident. I mean come on! Clothes are manufactured a long time before they’re sold. The stores have also ordered the stuff they carry months beforehand – they should know exactly what they’re getting and when they’re getting it, but no.

How can you run a retail business like that?! Imagine if pharmacies did the same thing: “Yeah I dunno if we’re going to get that medicine anytime soon.. might not get it for months. Oh you’re sick now? Sorry, you should’ve bought it like five months ago.” Or grocery stores for that matter: “Bread? No, we don’t have any bread at the moment. Not sure about tomorrow either, sometimes we get it, sometimes not. Why don’t you check back in a few weeks?”

Luckily there are other exceptions too; like, of all places, Clas Ohlson, who were out of wall socket covers the other day, an essential baby-proofing item. They had changed suppliers but could still tell me the exact date and time when the new covers would be at their main warehouse and then available at the store, as well as the price.

If a place like Clas Ohlson can pinpoint the location of a little plastic doohickey out of their catalog of tens of thousands of products, why can’t a shoe store selling only shoes tell me whether they’re going to actually get some shoes?!