Restocking Supermarket Shelves With Popular Products!

[The Pundit]

Why does this just not seem to happen here in Thailand?The supermarkets are copies of Western ones,some are even UK brands like Tesco's,so why-oh-why do the products run out and you know it's off to Tops,or Big C,or any other Western supermarket chain to source the product you need?

Surely they must have the same computer programs that tell them what stock has run out,or nearly run out and they need to re-order?Is there any sensible answer to this problem or is it just another case of TiT?

[keith101]

no its always tit

Edited November 13, 2012 by keith101

[manly100]

what were you expecting in thailand? their still working on pot holes.

[farang000999]

What is your question exactly? Why does it take so long to restock? To restock what exactly?

[h90]

For a fee of 500 Euro I let you work for 1 month in my company.

I guarantee at the end of the month you can answer questions, why there is no stock even the software cries since one month.

Or why the machine broke down because lack of lubricant even it the red alert and the piping sound tells to refill it.

Or why you don't answers to emails at many Thai companies.

all this mysterious things will be clear for you after this month with my staff.

[Pormax]

what were you expecting in thailand? their still working on pot holes.

Now are you talking about making 'pot holes'?

If so I think they are the best in the world for that.

You only have to see how they make or repair roads to be sure that the pot holes will be there again in under 6 months.

[kennedy]

A combination of incompetent managers, and packrats.

[The Pundit]

What is your question exactly? Why does it take so long to restock? To restock what exactly?

Popular products,try reading the thread title!

[JSixpack]

It's very typical of 3rd World countries. Experienced the same in Mexico, for example. You'll get used to it and figure out what to do.

Edited November 13, 2012 by JSixpack

[lovelaos]

because tomorrow isn't important, live for today.

[Ulysses G.]

TIT. I still remember when I first came to Thailand, a grocery store had really good banana bread and it would come every Friday morning and sell out by Friday afternoon and there would be no more for another week. Things have changed since then, but not a whole lot.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[Rancid]

HomePro and Global House often have the same problem. Poor software or more likely incompetent management. Bear in mind that many Thai managers are such as they had a family connection, useless bureacracy the same thing.

[DP25]

What are these popular products that are running out? Are you sure they are really popular products and not imported niche products for a tiny ethnic minority?

[stoneyboy]

I don't see what all the fuss is about,just today I went to buy a Hoover(vacuum cleaner) in Big C,I knew the exact one I wanted,where the box it came in was situated,but the very helpful young lady decided she was there to help,so after I showed her the one I wanted and I proceeded to open the box for her to let me lift the machine from the box,show her where the secretly hidden plug was and plug it into the wall to test,and repackage by myself while her and the GF had a chat I was on my way.

She couldn't do enough for me,literally.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Because the ownership is already so rich they don't bother to implement a top-to-bottom systems approach that forces the staff at the grassroots level to care.

No conception of compensation incentives that actually reward individual performance, it's just do "good enough or lose your job".

The people that actually care about performance are too far removed, too many layers of entrenched bureaucracy with overly sensitive "face" issues to actually be able to make sweeping effective changes required.

And sometimes the owner's so rich they don't actually bother to maximize profits, good enough is good enough.

Fundamental reason - not enough professionally trained competition in the retail economy.

[CharlieH]

no no no no ..........its a case of the staff are told you do A B or C you dont think, you dont get creative, and never ever show initiative, or think outside of A B or C as that is NOT your job.

That's why you get run down by pallet trucks moving stock in the aisles, climb over stock that's blocking your way, the answer "my job to fill the shelf, not watch for customers being able to pass. Same for stock, if its there grab it while it is, because who knows (literally) when it will arrive again. If there is no price tag or barcode, , that's it cant sell it, have to find the right person who has been given that job, no one else can do it.

Labour intensive systems, because labour is cheap. Look into any Government type office and you'll see 30 women where probably 6 with computers could do it, but noooooo its ledgers and manual entry.

One starts the chain, the next signs off on it, thats passed to a supervisor who check again and signs off on it, then up another level and so on.If soneone is off sick the chain is broken and everything waits for the missing link to return to progress. Absolutely pathetic, but TIT, welcome enjoy, relax and just get used to it as it aint gonna change any time soon.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

The OP seems to be talking about places with computerized inventory management systems and the ordering behavior of management, not the shop-floor behaviour of low-level staff.

However imported goods (which I'm assuming are at issue here) don't have the quick turnaround time required for JIT strategies, and the retailer probably would prefer running out for a few weeks of the year rather than risking over-ordering.

As another poster pointed out, these items are most likely a tiny proportion of their overall baht volume. And we all know the relative priority of customer satisfaction as a competitive strategy here.

Edited November 13, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[loong]

Sometimes the problem is that when the shelf fillers have more stock than will fit in place, they will simply put it in the nearest empty space. So where your favourite mayonnaise or whatever should be is filled with something else. When they come to restock the mayonnaise they can't see where to put it and so put the box on the top shelf.

Sometimes if you can't find what you want, look up and you may see it.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I've also had good luck asking for help, sometimes they'll actually go in the back and see if there's any there. In polite Thai, casually and with a smile of course

[h90]

Sometimes the problem is that when the shelf fillers have more stock than will fit in place, they will simply put it in the nearest empty space. So where your favourite mayonnaise or whatever should be is filled with something else. When they come to restock the mayonnaise they can't see where to put it and so put the box on the top shelf.

Sometimes if you can't find what you want, look up and you may see it.

Or look behind, I found behind some products complete different one....very old but in this case a year more did not matter.....

[scorecard]

Here we go again. Perhaps you'd like to blame the hot weather on the Thais?

- The supermarkets around my area of Thailand rarely run out of products, no more and no less than those in my home country or the several other countries I've lived/worked in.

- If it's foreign imported products, perhaps you might remember that the local supermarket is at the mercy of the foreign manufacturer, export red tape, shipping, import red tape, etc.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I completely agree, however it's worth pointing out that wrt this factor

- If it's foreign imported products, perhaps you might remember that the local supermarket is at the mercy of the foreign manufacturer, export red tape, shipping, import red tape, etc.

if customer satisfaction were in fact more important to them than cashflow issues, then they'd build your factors into their re-ordering algorithms and simply carry enough stock locally to accommodate the extra time lag. Super-successful retail outfits like Walmart that maximize their use of the tech that's been available for decades now do this routinely.

Not saying it's a Thai thing, many of the local outfits are actually foreign-owned. But it's just not state of the art best practice compared to the ultra-efficiencies increasingly demanded by global competition.

I admit that it's possible that they A make full use of such systems AND B actually do care about the issue from a customer service POV and C think through these things in depth. But what do you reckon are the odds of all three being true?

PS should say I abhor Walmart in every way except as a leading example of such practices from a B-school case study POV.

Edited November 14, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[jbrain]

For a fee of 500 Euro I let you work for 1 month in my company.

I guarantee at the end of the month you can answer questions, why there is no stock even the software cries since one month.

Or why the machine broke down because lack of lubricant even it the red alert and the piping sound tells to refill it.

Or why you don't answers to emails at many Thai companies.

all this mysterious things will be clear for you after this month with my staff.

I'm too lazy to work for a month and for sure wouldn't pay for it.

So is it possible to write the answers on a postcard for me, please?

[Semper]

What is your question exactly? Why does it take so long to restock? To restock what exactly?

Popular products,try reading the thread title!

Maybe popular for you. What would you expect in a country far away from your home country? My suggestion is, that on your next holiday you should try a place in the vicinity of your home.

[philw]

What is your question exactly? Why does it take so long to restock? To restock what exactly?

Popular products,try reading the thread title!

Maybe popular for you. What would you expect in a country far away from your home country? My suggestion is, that on your next holiday you should try a place in the vicinity of your home.

Rarely do I agree with you, but 23 posts of neg above are truly pathetic.

[Semper]

Rarely do I agree with you

I'm not surprised, as not more than 5-10 % of the population does.

[The Pundit]

Here we go again. Perhaps you'd like to blame the hot weather on the Thais?

- The supermarkets around my area of Thailand rarely run out of products, no more and no less than those in my home country or the several other countries I've lived/worked in.

- If it's foreign imported products, perhaps you might remember that the local supermarket is at the mercy of the foreign manufacturer, export red tape, shipping, import red tape, etc.

Oh great Oracle,maybe you could explain this then? :

In Central Festival Phuket,I was buying O'Hara's Irish Stout for 199 baht a bottle and they were happily restocking it,week in,week out!

Then I move to Bangkok and drink all of the dwindling stocks from every Tops market,the SAME supermarket within a month or two.Just for clarity,we're talking around 4 bottles a week but Bangkok is now dry of Irish Stout,whereas I know if I flew down to Phuket I could happily pick up as many bottles as I wanted!

So who exactly should I be blaming then,in your sage-like wisdom?

[KhunMoo]

Here we go again. Perhaps you'd like to blame the hot weather on the Thais?

- The supermarkets around my area of Thailand rarely run out of products, no more and no less than those in my home country or the several other countries I've lived/worked in.

- If it's foreign imported products, perhaps you might remember that the local supermarket is at the mercy of the foreign manufacturer, export red tape, shipping, import red tape, etc.

Oh great Oracle,maybe you could explain this then? :

In Central Festival Phuket,I was buying O'Hara's Irish Stout for 199 baht a bottle and they were happily restocking it,week in,week out!

Then I move to Bangkok and drink all of the dwindling stocks from every Tops market,the SAME supermarket within a month or two.Just for clarity,we're talking around 4 bottles a week but Bangkok is now dry of Irish Stout,whereas I know if I flew down to Phuket I could happily pick up as many bottles as I wanted!

So who exactly should I be blaming then,in your sage-like wisdom?

Talk to Chris from "BREW Beers and Ciders" In Thong lor. He will sell you a case, below supermarket prices...i think he stocks around 180 different brands.

https://www.facebook.com/brewbkk

[KhunMoo]

And to answer your question from the OP: TIT, lack of education, idiots...

[jbrain]

Here we go again. Perhaps you'd like to blame the hot weather on the Thais?

- The supermarkets around my area of Thailand rarely run out of products, no more and no less than those in my home country or the several other countries I've lived/worked in.

- If it's foreign imported products, perhaps you might remember that the local supermarket is at the mercy of the foreign manufacturer, export red tape, shipping, import red tape, etc.

How about this one.

If I go to Makro Pattaya, it is an embarrasment how often they are out of stock of many regular items for months in a row.

Let me see, Sunflower oil has been out of stock for at least 6 month, mussaman tuna in tin from Sealect not seen for almost a year now.Thai-Danish milk regualar and chocolate in 250 ml bricks not seen for at least 6 months.Toilet brushes with holder, haven't seen them for the past year.Mineral water in 1.5L bottles, if you're lucky you will find a few packs from a single brand.This are only a few products.

Now if take the 40 Km drive to Makro Rayong, which I now do most of the times as I can't be bothered anymore, I will find all these items plenty every time.

From the Sunflower oil I will even have choice out of 3 brands.This is one and the same consortium catering to the same group of customers, yet one branch has nothing where another branch has it all.

I was at Makro Pattaya last Sunday, as I thought I pick up a few packs of coke zero, and there was not 1 single bottle of 1.25L softdrink of any brand or flavour available.No coke,no pepsi,no fanta,sprite nothing at all.Even no space reserved for big bottles.

I was lucky I could take with me the only 4 packs of mineral water from IO brand they had in stock.

Edit to add. To be correct there were 7 bottles of blue fanta in stock on Sunday.

Edited November 14, 2012 by jbrain