A shopper has made it through to checkout only to receive a notification that one or more items in their cart is out of stock. Or, even worse, a shopper receives an email days later. Or, in some cases no notification at all.

Retailers lose an estimated $93 billion in sales annually due to out-of-stock inventory. Whether you’re a small retailer or a multi-billion dollar retail giant, inventory mistakes happen. What matters from a service perspective is how you handle that messaging to your valued customers.

We looked at 10 cases from the past two months in which a STELLAService analyst purchased an item and later received an email notification that the product was out of stock.

Here are 10 best practices for email communications for inventory mishaps.

1. Notify customers as soon as possible. Multiple STELLAService shoppers reported waiting 9 to 10 days for the delivery to arrive, then being forced to call the retailer only to discover the product was out of stock and the order was cancelled. It was the retailers that swiftly alerted shoppers that stood apart.
• In practice: A …

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