Definition
out of stock
Out of stock at the store level means a given, normally stocked good is not available at a specific time. [1]
Out-of-stocks (or stock-outs) quantify the number of retail outlets where an item is expected to be available for customers but is not. It is typically expressed as a percentage of stores that list the relevant item. [2]
Out-of-stocks (%) = Outlets Where Brand or Product is Listed But Unavailable (#) ÷ Total Outlets Where Brand or Product is Listed (#)
In addition, three outlet weighting methods can be applied to the calculation:
Numeric – outlets are unweighted
ACV (all commodity volume) – outlets weighted by total sales of all commodities
PCV (product category volume) – outlets weighted by sales of a specific product category, such as toilet paper
A want book is information collected by retail salespeople to record out-of stock or requested merchandise or a notebook in which store employees record the names of out-of-stock items called for by customers. A want slip is a piece of paper on which the salesperson records such requests. [3]
References
- Common Language in Marketing Project, 2020.
- Bendle, Neil T., Paul W. Farris, Phillip E. Pfeifer, and David J. Reibstein (2016). Marketing Metrics: The Manager’s Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance (Third Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
- American Marketing Association, AMA Dictionary.