Gregory K. Norris CPF
RIP Past PPFA President 2016-2018
Certified Picture Framer®
In Remembrance
Rest In Peace
I am generally pretty sympathetic to the problems our suppliers face, but for the second time this month I learned that a moulding was out of stock at the point of ordering it. Things happen, I get it.
But...when a supplier is emailing me frequently to tell me how great their products and services are but can't be troubled to let me know which items are low in inventory or out of stock...I begin to wonder if they understand us at all.
Surely they know what they are low on and have reordered. It seems to me that they could let us know. In fact, I don't know why this could not be configured to come up on POS software. There must be something I am missing.
This is more than a problem for the frame shop. It is a problem for the customer, and ultimately a problem for the supplier. If I learn that a moulding is out of stock for 3 months, I have to take the corner off the wall. When or if a busy shop remembers to follow up and make sure the frame is back in stock, and the corner goes back up is anybody's guess. There is always another vendor anxious to have that spot on the wall.
If a customer learns that a frame is out of stock for 3 months, I am probably going to lose the sale. Making a trip to the frame shop and spending a minimum of 20 minutes selecting a frame is one thing, it is quite another when they have to come back...and with no assurance that their second choice will be available in a timely way.
We are now in an environment where waiting as much as 10 minutes on the phone to talk to a rep is pretty common, so checking stock while the customer is present is not practical. Long gone are the days when the factory was a day or two away from the supplier. And customers are expecting faster and faster service.
I don't know what the answer to this conundrum is. If it were simple, I think our suppliers would have solved it by now. I know they don't like the status quo much either.
But...when a supplier is emailing me frequently to tell me how great their products and services are but can't be troubled to let me know which items are low in inventory or out of stock...I begin to wonder if they understand us at all.
Surely they know what they are low on and have reordered. It seems to me that they could let us know. In fact, I don't know why this could not be configured to come up on POS software. There must be something I am missing.
This is more than a problem for the frame shop. It is a problem for the customer, and ultimately a problem for the supplier. If I learn that a moulding is out of stock for 3 months, I have to take the corner off the wall. When or if a busy shop remembers to follow up and make sure the frame is back in stock, and the corner goes back up is anybody's guess. There is always another vendor anxious to have that spot on the wall.
If a customer learns that a frame is out of stock for 3 months, I am probably going to lose the sale. Making a trip to the frame shop and spending a minimum of 20 minutes selecting a frame is one thing, it is quite another when they have to come back...and with no assurance that their second choice will be available in a timely way.
We are now in an environment where waiting as much as 10 minutes on the phone to talk to a rep is pretty common, so checking stock while the customer is present is not practical. Long gone are the days when the factory was a day or two away from the supplier. And customers are expecting faster and faster service.
I don't know what the answer to this conundrum is. If it were simple, I think our suppliers would have solved it by now. I know they don't like the status quo much either.