Have you ever shopped online, then were told by the seller that the product you ordered is not in stock and you need to wait for 3 weeks for restocking?
If you are dropshipping for your business, frankly you will run into “out of stock” issues from your supplier.
A scenario will go like this:
A customer inquires about a product and places an order on your website. Then you come to your supplier to place the order, but discovered that the product has just sold out!
Now, it seems like the only option you have is to offer the customer a substitute or a refund.
If you dropship hair extensions from Dropship BHE, it’s possible that we may have “out of stock bummer” too.
Recently, we had to adjust prices and inventory a few times due to the worldwide lace shortage.
If you have a hair extensions business or are a hairstylist yourself. You may have already heard about the “lace shortage” that’s causing many hair companies to permanently “unshelf” some of their products.
The “lace shortage” is a result of North Korea’s shut down. North Korea produces the best lace for the weave industry. Since North Korea shut down, many hair extensions factories started sourcing lace frontals, closures from China where labor costs to produce lace are 3 times higher.
This sudden shift increased lace frontals, closures and wigs’ prices by almost 3 times!
Many hair extensions company have pivoted during this time to ensure that they are able to offer customers products and still turn a profit after the rapid increase of product costs.
If you are a hair extensions business owner, you can follow these practices below to help you pivot your business during this time to eliminate “out of stock bummer”.
1. Closely communicate with your vendor/supplier on the stock. If you are not sure if something is in stock, check with your vendor before your customer places the order.
2. If a certain product is frequently out of stock, try to mark that product out of stock entirely. You can make it available when the stock is more stable.
3. Try to promote products such as bundles. Many well know hair companies have pivoted to promoting bundles and leave-out sew-in weaves during this time to avoid lace shortage.
4. Limit your offering. All types of suppliers are running out of stock way more often than normal during this time. Dropshipping hair extensions allows you to offer many products without having to invest in inventory. However, if you know that your supplier can’t constantly keep up the stock for certain products, you can try to limit your offering and focus on fewer products to make sure you don’t have to constantly edit your large listing.
5. Promptly offer a substitute or refund to your customers. It’s very common in the retail industry to run out of stock when an item is already sold online. If your customer bought an item and paid you but the item is out not available, we suggest that you promptly contact your customer to offer a substitute such as a different length or texture. If the customer would want to stick to the original order, be prepare to refund the customers. It may seem like a loss at the moment, but a prompt response and quick customer service might turn a bad situation into a returning customer.
2020’s Covid-19 has definitely taken a toll on many industries. With the second wave shutting down Europe, we are expecting more difficulties in getting high-quality human hair this 2021. It’s important for a hair business owner to know what’s going on with the industry to be prepared for any challenges that their businesses may face.
