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So if I grumpily (sorry) understand this correctly, the business wants to make customers feel guilty that the business over-ordered? The business could have be

So if I grumpily (sorry) understand this correctly, the business wants to make customers feel guilty that the business over-ordered? The business could have been a little conservative in how many units they ordered, but no, the just couldn't give up on even one potential lost sale, so they ordered too many. The solution, put a sticker on it to try to talk a customer into buying something perhaps they otherwise wouldn't.

csande17 1y ago
I think this sort of small discount is mainly aimed at people who were going to buy the item and eat it immediately regardless. If there's more than one tuna and egg sandwich on the shelf, it doesn't really matter to you which one you buy, but the store would rather you choose the one that expires sooner so they don't have to throw it out.
pavon 1y ago
Its not just the lost sale of the specific out-of-stock items that are at risk in a competitive market though. Over time their customers will notice that frequently one or two items they need are out of stock, but when they go to the competitor to get those missing items, they always have them. So they start shopping at the competitor to begin with and rarely have reason to return to the original store since everything is always in stock. Now the original store has lost most of the sales they used to get from that customer. It similar to why not offering vegetarian food at a restaurant can have a much larger impact on sales than just the loss of the small number of vegetarian purchases - you loose out on the entire group that came with the vegetarian.
Noumenon72 1y ago
Grant that overordering will often be the correct strategy, economically, since the marginal cost of unloading a few units is low and the damage when customers think you're poorly stocked is high. In a perfect world, they'd discount the extra food instead of throwing it out, but that devalues your stock and people start expecting that as the real price. Enlisting social cooperation leads to an even better world: the store always have products in stock, and never wastes any, while consumers get to feel the moral satisfaction (not guilt) of cooperating to choose the food that avoids the most waste. Highminded signs about "please choose the earliest expiration date" may give less of that satisfaction than a sticker that makes you feel like you're helping the food.
DengistKhan 1y ago
The alternative to over ordering is probably going to be always having shortages...

csande17 1y ago

I think this sort of small discount is mainly aimed at people who were going to buy the item and eat it immediately regardless. If there's more than one tuna and egg sandwich on the shelf, it doesn't really matter to you which one you buy, but the store would rather you choose the one that expires sooner so they don't have to throw it out.

pavon 1y ago

Its not just the lost sale of the specific out-of-stock items that are at risk in a competitive market though. Over time their customers will notice that frequently one or two items they need are out of stock, but when they go to the competitor to get those missing items, they always have them. So they start shopping at the competitor to begin with and rarely have reason to return to the original store since everything is always in stock. Now the original store has lost most of the sales they used to get from that customer. It similar to why not offering vegetarian food at a restaurant can have a much larger impact on sales than just the loss of the small number of vegetarian purchases - you loose out on the entire group that came with the vegetarian.

Noumenon72 1y ago

Grant that overordering will often be the correct strategy, economically, since the marginal cost of unloading a few units is low and the damage when customers think you're poorly stocked is high. In a perfect world, they'd discount the extra food instead of throwing it out, but that devalues your stock and people start expecting that as the real price. Enlisting social cooperation leads to an even better world: the store always have products in stock, and never wastes any, while consumers get to feel the moral satisfaction (not guilt) of cooperating to choose the food that avoids the most waste. Highminded signs about "please choose the earliest expiration date" may give less of that satisfaction than a sticker that makes you feel like you're helping the food.

DengistKhan 1y ago

The alternative to over ordering is probably going to be always having shortages...