I was visiting a big box retailer with my daughter to purchase a new board game. The company is publicly traded with a large, multi-billion-dollars market capitalization.
We had checked online and they were supposed to have the game in stock, but we could not find it. After a while, we asked for help and they promptly sent an associate.
She arrived, observed that the game was not on display, confirmed on her hand-held device that it was supposed to be in inventory, but then added that they “obviously no longer had it”.
When we inquired about the discrepancy, she informed us that it happened “all the time”. We were clearly more surprised than she was.
Two observations:
- If her statement was true, then there was an urgent need to address inventory management and improve the quality of the information provided by the company, both to its customers and to its employees.
- If her statement was untrue, then there was an urgent need to improve the company culture, leverage training, and improve communication to customers.
Such issues affect customer satisfaction, employee confidence in their own system, and contaminate other areas. They are best prevented or, at the very least, handled promptly.