What Woodcraft COULD have done

[LRod]

What incident? Someone didn't act quickly enough in a special circumstance to get what they wanted? Is Woodcraft (or any other retailer) under some requirement to stock all the inventory that everyone could possibly want?

Please. Is there a woodworker on the planet who didn't see the frenzy at the two other large retailers before Woodcraft did theirs? Is there a woodworker on the planet who wasn't aware of the Jorgensen promotion fully two months before Woodcraft's sale? Besides that, knowing that quantities are limited falls in the same "Useless Information" category described below.

And that would help the would-be buyer how? Presumably he has no idea of how many other people are buying and in what quantity. Under the category "Useless Information" I would have to rank that pretty high.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the default value of "rainchecks" is YES anywhere. Sure, retailers MAY issue them, but they are not required to nor are they required to advertise that they do or do not issue them.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Obviously there are some woodworkers on the planet who don't understand business, who aren't aware of Jorgensen's promotion, and who aren't familiar with who orders what, how much, and when. The vendors had to place their order for the specially priced Jorgies in the Spring. The production run for that price point was limited (apparently to several hundred thousand), thus no back orders could be made at that price.

Well, Jorgensen did the promo, so how can Woodcraft be blamed (if blame is the word) for that.

Were they acting alone or was there another harvester on the grassy knoll?

Then what's your beef?

I imagine Woodcraft will be relieved they don't have to put up with a whiny customer who successfully takes advantage of a limited time special offer and is so pissed off at his success that he won't be shopping there anymore.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[TomL]

I'm of the firm belief Woodcraft is fully to blame as far as the Jorgensen clamp sale incident. Many times when a retailer has a special promotion they will tell you upfront about 'limited quantities'. The better retailers will even state the amount of inventory on hand. In addition they might disclaim the availability of rainchecks. Woodcraft could have done some of the above. They could also have backordered some or all of what they could not fulfill. I can't help but think this promo was poorly planned or a clever ruse to harvest email and home addresses. Yes, I was lucky enough to get my order in and have the shipping confirmed, however I don't expect I'll be doing any future business with them.

TomL

[Unisaw A100]

BWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

You a regwar Bah Hope!!!

UA100

[Leon]

What incident? Selling out of a much sought after product that was less than half priced?

upfront about 'limited

Yeah they normally tell you 1 or 2 at this special price. Seldom do thay say that they only have 2000 to sell.

In addition they might disclaim the availability of rainchecks. Woodcraft could have done some of the above.

IIRC they indicated WHILE quantities last.

Amazon and Woodworker Source had the same sale with the same results.

Most likely they were able to purchace or only purchased these clamps at a one time price reduction that they passed on to the customers which they probably did not have to do.

however I don't expect I'll

That sounds pathetic. You buy a good product at dirt cheap prices and get the product but are not going to buy from them again because they ran out and some people did not get any clamps. So you let the regular customers pay the higher prices and you complain???

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:01:51 -0500, Unisaw A100 pixelated:

Been watching reruns of Indy again, have we? (Pass me the Kate Capshaw, please.)

------------------------------------------------------- Have you read the new book "What Would Machiavelli Do?" ----------------------------

Dynamic, Interactive Websites!

--------------------------------------------------------

[Phisherman]

I can't wait until the next frenzy, except I'm waiting for the K-Body Bessey stampede.

[Nova]

Wasn't that stampede last year?

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[MSgeek]

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:52:00 GMT, Larry Jaques Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

sorry.,but it seems she's busy sittin on JOAT's lap, and making quite a fuss about it.

i think i see karen allen over there somewhere. . .

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 18:44:36 GMT, TomL Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

i read the initial web page that was up before the "sale" started, and i seem to recall it said to the effect of, "limited to stock on hand, no rain checks."

i saw nothing wrong with what took place, and lets face it. EVERY wooddorker on the face of the earth knew about this promo at least a week ago.

even if they had 5000 clamps on hand. 1000 wooddorkers each buying 5 clamps,,,, you get my meaning

[Rob Bowman]

promo at least a week ago.

Steady on there, chaps. Unless you believe that the world is flat and is bounded by the coastline of N.America, that's a bit of a contentious statement.

[James Cubby Culbertson]

The issue for me was not that they sold out or didn't issue rainchecks etc... At issue is the fact that they confirmed a sale and then backed out. I was confirmed for 12 clamps and am actually getting 8. Where Woodcraft failed was in estimating the response this would create and properly adjusting their internet systems accordingly. It sure appears they didn't have enough computing power to keep up managing their inventory vs. sales. IMO, they should acknowledge this and fulfill those that received confirmations from them. Cheers, cc

[alexy]

While I am put off by most of the whining here, I think you make some very valid points.

[Eric Lund]

This of course brings up a good point. If every major retailer has this sale, all those who refuse to do business with woodcraft will, of course, be refusing to do business with any of these retailers. I guess they will limit their shopping to Rockler, since they apparently do not carry Cabinet Masters. I guess they could also become hard and fast Harbor Freight customers. ;-)

Cheers, Eric

[Eric Lund]

this promo at least a week ago.

It's not???? ;-o But, but, but... That means the World Series isn't really the WORLD Series. You mean there are pro baseball who don't get a chance to compete in the World Series!!!!????

Cheers, Eric

[Abe]

...

This is precisely why I was pissed off. I had an order confirmation number in hand, and therefore skipped a chance to visit the local Woodcraft the following morning. Then I got an email "shipping notification" -- no shit: that's what it said -- that gave *zero* as the number of clamps being shipped.

That's no way to run a railroad. Unless your aim is to reduce ridership. (And I think I'll drive, next time.)

Cheers, Abe

[Mark & Juanita]

... and somehow Woodcraft did not learn from others' experience

The problem here for Woodcraft is that it doesn't matter *why* customers are PO'd at them, the only thing that matters is that the customers are PO'd. Were a sufficient number of woodworkers irked enough to significantly affect future Woodcraft sales? Only time will tell. There are certainly sufficient alternate suppliers such as Woodworker's Supply, Belews, Grizzly, etc. that there are choices that offer value for the money. To paraphrase a trite term, "the customer may not always be right, but they are the customer." Woodcraft could certainly have taken advantage of knowledge gained by other retailers' results with this sale; their promotions were advertised and although the "while supplies last" disclaimer may have been present, I don't think most Woodcraft customers expected that they would be dealing with a "Who" concert sellout type of phenomenon.

No, I didn't get shut out, and no, I don't have any of these clamps ordered, I think that it might be somewhat unrealistic for some of the expectations that were expressed in these threads, but I also think Woodcraft screwed up royally as well, especially since they had the benefit of other retailers' experiences in this regard.

[Rico]

Some people would complain if they were hung with a new rope.

Rico

[LRod]

See my answer to this below.

According to the Marketing Manager from American Clamp, each of the vendors who were going to commit to the promotion had to place their orders in the Spring. Thus no retailer, including those yet to have a sale (if any, now), had an opportunity to go back and order more based on the previous sellers' experience.

Nor did Woodcraft.

See above. They may have had the benefit, but they didn't have the opportunity. I don't think you could be any more wrong.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Mark & Juanita]

That may be true, but they did have the opportunity to see how the sale was received and perhaps revise their approach to minimize potential problems.

But Woodcraft saw what happened to the other retailers whose sales occurred before Woodcraft's own sale. To blindly continue with plans as formulated smacks of a rigid, non-adaptable corporation.

What do you mean they didn't have the opportunity? Their sale occurred after the other sales, they saw the demand. Did they have the opportunity to buy more supply? No. Does that mean they had no other alternative other than to march blindly on with their advertising campaign and prominent "Huge Jorgensen Sale" banner on their web page? Absolutely. Plans give a direction and purpose to corporate efforts, blindly following the plan after new information is available is a recipe for disaster.

Frankly, it doesn't matter whether I'm wrong or not, you can portray Woodcraft as a victim of circumstance -- if customers stay away, it doesn't help them. Maybe this is all a tempest in a teapot and WC didn't hurt their overall rating in most customers' eyes. If so, then no big deal. The problem is that it doesn't take too many irate customers to significantly affect market share. I'm merely pointing out that Woodcraft did have options and opportunities to learn from others' and chose not to.