How do shoppers react to out-of-stocks (OOS)?
ECR UK estimated that business loses the equivalent of £2.4 billion annually, or nearly 2 weeks’ expenditure for the average UK household*. This figure only takes into consideration the 9% of shoppers who do not purchase when faced with an out-of-stock (ECR Europe 2003), and so the true picture could therefore be even higher, because shoppers also react by buying products elsewhere, postponing purchases, buying alternative sizes or moving their entire basket elsewhere.
