Stock Consistency

[socialgiraffe]

Going to wade in here... LOL

I agree with some of the points raised and it would be great to see live stock levels of items on websites. In fact when I posted a thread about "what do you want from suppliers" many years back that was one thing that popped up. Ralawise has excellent stock level indicators which really does help when quoting on clothing etc as you can gauge the likelihood of running out of stock.

However, I personally just don't see how this is something that can be solved and I really can not see how the supplier is at fault.

I 100% understand that a supplier should know that they are going to sell a lot XXX products this time of year, but could the same point be directed at you? In which case should you not have the stock ready instead of relying on your supplier not to run out? If you get a run on XXX, who is to say that the supplier didn't get a run on XXX as well. How is it that a supplier should know that they will see a lot of something this time of year but you don't. Why should the supplier have thousands of blank stock ready and you don't. I fully appreciate that I could well be missing something but I honestly can not see it.

One supplier did once guarantee to me that they will never run out of a product, three months later and it was out of stock, that was something i was pissed about, likewise, if you decide to do a promotion on an item and you prudently check with your supplier before running the promotion it would be very unlucky if they sold out in the time frame. But those are the only times I can see where the supplier is to be moaned about....

Will someone please explain to me how the supplier is at fault more than us as the end seller.

I appreciate that some of you will go "just sticking up for suppliers again" and if you want to take that stance fine with me. All I am trying to do is offer a balanced and in my opinion fair comment...

[Earl Smith]

The voice of reason Simon and I totally agree with you. Suddenly a colour, in my case its burgundy, is in fashion. The supplier has ordered knowing that it will the colour of the moment. Why should they, the supplier, order a crazy amount of this colour and then it might just not be the colour of the moment and they are left with a massive over stock.
It is annoying for us when we want to maximise our sales but we have to see the problem from the suppliers side too.

Another moan...this one for Justin. Why do you use an American spell checker???? Colour is spelt colour and not color. Same with digitising and not digitizing. Maths is maths and not Math. Grrrr....

Going to wade in here... LOL

I agree with some of the points raised and it would be great to see live stock levels of items on websites. In fact when I posted a thread about "what do you want from suppliers" many years back that was one thing that popped up. Ralawise has excellent stock level indicators which really does help when quoting on clothing etc as you can gauge the likelihood of running out of stock.

However, I personally just don't see how this is something that can be solved and I really can not see how the supplier is at fault.

I 100% understand that a supplier should know that they are going to sell a lot XXX products this time of year, but could the same point be directed at you? In which case should you not have the stock ready instead of relying on your supplier not to run out? If you get a run on XXX, who is to say that the supplier didn't get a run on XXX as well. How is it that a supplier should know that they will see a lot of something this time of year but you don't. Why should the supplier have thousands of blank stock ready and you don't. I fully appreciate that I could well be missing something but I honestly can not see it.

One supplier did once guarantee to me that they will never run out of a product, three months later and it was out of stock, that was something i was pissed about, likewise, if you decide to do a promotion on an item and you prudently check with your supplier before running the promotion it would be very unlucky if they sold out in the time frame. But those are the only times I can see where the supplier is to be moaned about....

Will someone please explain to me how the supplier is at fault more than us as the end seller.

I appreciate that some of you will go "just sticking up for suppliers again" and if you want to take that stance fine with me. All I am trying to do is offer a balanced and in my opinion fair comment...

[Tania]

It never occurred to me the suppliers would run out of fastmoving low-cost popular items eg. Coasters.
We are a very small charity, we cannot hold masses of stock either. We have our Christmas Stock. I am preparing for Crufts in March, I am the only one sublimating on mass for thisshow which is why I am preparing early. !
We run a successful online charity shop, because I work fulltime I pay someone to prepare templates I have just found out by accident, the keepsake boxes at the TransferPress are going to be discontinued. Doyou not think the supplier should send out some kind of notification to theircustomers.
I run a tea and coffee vending company. We have to maintain consistent levels ofpopular items, if for some reason there is going to be an item that isdiscontinued, we contact the relevant customers before it becomes a problem.

Having said all of this, I am very grateful the sublimationfacility is available to small organisations like ours, it has opened a bigdoor and has helped in more ways that you can imagine.

[socialgiraffe]

the keepsake boxes at the TransferPress are going to be discontinued. Do you not think the supplier should send out some kind of notification to theircustomers.

100% agree that they should contact you if there is a product that is about to be discontinued and I would imagine that the reason why they don't is because it would be perceived as a negative thing to advertise. Personally I don't see it as negative, but I suppose that is up to the individual company obviously.

With regards to your other comments, the fast moving low cost stock is exactly the sort of item I would have thought runs out very quickly this time of year. Its always going to be a trade off, cheap prices versus running out of stock. I am fairly sure there are other suppliers of coasters who have them in stock because they are charging more and can afford to keep more on the shelf waiting to be sold. The supplier who is making 10p per item can keep a lot more stock on the shelf than the guy making 1p per item. I completely understand the frustrations and with your particular circumstance I would presume it will be fine just after Christmas, although obviously there is no guarantee on that.

[Tania]

The coaster problem in particular has been a problem thoughout the year, I have purchased them as they became available.

More expensive and unusual items I agree, they would not hold loads of stock especially if it is a slow mover.

[webtrekker]

100% agree that they should contact you if there is a product that is about to be discontinued and I would imagine that the reason why they don't is because it would be perceived as a negative thing to advertise. Personally I don't see it as negative, but I suppose that is up to the individual company obviously.

With regards to your other comments, the fast moving low cost stock is exactly the sort of item I would have thought runs out very quickly this time of year. Its always going to be a trade off, cheap prices versus running out of stock. I am fairly sure there are other suppliers of coasters who have them in stock because they are charging more and can afford to keep more on the shelf waiting to be sold. The supplier who is making 10p per item can keep a lot more stock on the shelf than the guy making 1p per item. I completely understand the frustrations and with your particular circumstance I would presume it will be fine just after Christmas, although obviously there is no guarantee on that.

There you go ... defending the suppliers again!

Only joking!

I completely agree that it's mainly up to the retailer to keep control of stocks, especially at this time of year. However, in the case of The Transfer Press, who I always thought were very good, I was disappointed last year when they run out of one of my best-sellers, the two-tone mugs with spoons, shortly before Christmas and, after many promises to email me when they came back in stock, and a few phone calls throughout this year, they are STILL showing as out of stock on their website and it doesn't look like they'll ever be getting them back in.

In the end, I've had to go as far as BestSub in Poland to source these. I could have done this at the very beginning but stuck with TTP through some kind of misplaced loyalty. Not any more though!

[socialgiraffe]

I completely agree that it's mainly up to the retailer to keep control of stocks, especially at this time of year. However, in the case of The Transfer Press, who I always thought were very good, I was disappointed last year when they run out of one of my best-sellers, the two-tone mugs with spoons, shortly before Christmas and, after many promises to email me when they came back in stock, and a few phone calls throughout this year, they are STILL showing as out of stock on their website and it doesn't look like they'll ever be getting them back in.

Out of stock is one thing, but it is indefensible to promise to let you know when they are back in stock and never contact you.

The mug n spoon is £1.20 at TTP. LW it is £1.30 (with DSF discount), if you purchase lots of them I am sure LW would look at doing you a deal. If not I am sure there are others that would.

I have always tried to work with my suppliers and I had an issue this week that required a favour from Listawood. Low and behold they really stepped up for me and deserve my loyalty with their products.

[webtrekker]

The mug n spoon is £1.20 at TTP. LW it is £1.30 (with DSF discount), if you purchase lots of them I am sure LW would look at doing you a deal. If not I am sure there are others that would.

Sadly, the LW mugs are the parallel-sided 11oz ones. I use the rounded, two-tone ones with the matching coloured spoons.

I'm having a bit of a love-hate relationship with LW at the moment. Having got over my annoyances about the 'premium' mugs not being as 'premium' as I'd expected, today I opened a box of 36 with 7 smashed mugs in and a couple with chipped bases! I know I can't really blame them for damage in transit but it just seems to be one problem after another at the moment.

Glad to hear LW came up trumps for you though SG. I'd hate to think what it would be like if I was a 'proper' business turning out hundreds or thousands of mugs a week. Do you get many defects when ordering by the pallet?

[socialgiraffe]

Glad to hear LW came up trumps for you though SG. I'd hate to think what it would be like if I was a 'proper' business turning out hundreds or thousands of mugs a week. Do you get many defects when ordering by the pallet?

TBH I am not printing that many these days. Used to be loads but this year has been very quiet on mugs.

I have had breakages and I have always kept them aside and when I get a box of them I let LW know and they replace them, there doesn't seem to be any logic to how they get damaged so it can only be the couriers. LW are the only company I know that will replace mugs if damaged but there might be others that I am unaware of.

I get the A grade PM1006 mugs (not the AAA ones) so I expect there to be slight defects but there is never anything glaringly obvious. Sometime ago I had to purchase a box of mugs from every single supplier in the UK, and if that supplier sold different grades I had to purchase them as well. I ended up with out 23 boxes of mugs. I was asked to print one of each style/grade and had to take them to my customer. I then sat there for two hours why they inspected every single aspect of the mug (it was two hours of my life I will never get back!), in the end they chose the Listawood PM1006 mug, it is one of the cheapest mugs available from the larger more reputable suppliers (basically excluding people like Signzworld).

Ever since then I have stuck to that mug. All my mugs are printed for a retail environment and are sold in some very prestigious outlets. I have never had 1 complaint about the printing or defects (should there be any). and, as we know, LW guarantee their coating for the lifetime of the mug.

This is why I always say that customers really will not "care", give them a decent "low end" mug or a AAAAAAAAA grade and they will not be able to tell the difference (design aspect aside). Sometimes I think we are far too close to the subject and should take a step back.

[GoonerGary]

Regarding stock levels, they were talking about this in the Brexit deal and that many manufacturers don't stockpile parts or stock. Everything arrives in as required and then out the door again. So if we are going to be using middle men wholesalers to buy our stock, they have a duty to do their 'one job' and stockpile goods. We may as well buy from China direct.

If I'm out of stock, as a retailer, my customer goes elsewhere, whereas the wholesaler knows that we will probably wait and buy later. They don't loose out as we do. And who has the cash flow and warehouse space to stockpile mugs for 6-9 weeks of supply?