When a product runs out, the first hour is about stopping new orders you cannot fill and dealing with the ones already taken. Restocking is the slowest part and the least urgent. Teams that reverse that order end up chasing a supplier while the storefront keeps selling stock that does not exist.
When to use it
Use it the moment stock hits zero on anything you are actively selling, and especially during a campaign, where the gap between running out and noticing is where the oversells happen.
It is deliberately separate from preventing stockouts. Prevention is a reorder point and a threshold. This is what you do when prevention has already failed, which it periodically will.
The template
The order matters. Everything in section one stops the problem growing.
STOCKOUT RESPONSE Product: [SKU] Noticed: [time] By: [name] 1. STOP IT GROWING (first ten minutes) [ ] Confirm it is real: physical count, not just the system [ ] Stop the storefront selling it (unpublish, or mark out of stock) [ ] Pause any ad set or campaign pointing at it [ ] Remove it from bundles, collections and any live promotion 2. THE ORDERS ALREADY TAKEN [ ] List orders placed but not fulfilled [ ] Check if any can be filled from another location [ ] Decide per order: fulfil late, substitute, split, or refund [ ] Contact those customers before they contact you 3. TELL THE TEAM [ ] Post in the room people actually read [ ] Say what the holding answer is, so everyone says the same thing [ ] Name who owns the restock 4. RESTOCK (same day, not same hour) [ ] Supplier contacted, revised date requested [ ] Reorder point reviewed: it was wrong or it was ignored [ ] Date set for relisting Owner: [name] Expected back: [date]
How to adapt it
- Keep the physical count in step one. A meaningful share of zero-stock alerts are miscounts, and unpublishing a product you actually have is its own cost.
- Decide the holding answer before anyone talks to a customer. Three people giving three different dates is worse than one person giving a vague one.
- Add the ad-set step only if you run paid traffic, but if you do, keep it near the top. Spend continues whether or not the product exists.
- Keep the reorder point review. Every stockout is either a threshold that was set wrong or an alert that was ignored, and the distinction changes what you fix.
Why it is this short
The whole thing fits in an hour on purpose. A stockout response that takes half a day will not be run during the week it most matters, which is a busy one.
Restocking is last because it is the part people instinctively start with. Phoning the supplier feels like progress, and it changes nothing about the orders you have already taken or the money still being spent sending traffic to the page.
Common questions
What should you do first when a product runs out?
Stop it growing: confirm the count physically, stop the storefront selling it, and pause any campaign pointing at it. Contacting the supplier feels urgent but changes nothing about the orders already placed.
Should customers be told before they ask?
Yes, and it is the highest-value step on the list. A customer told about a delay before they notice is dealing with a shop that is on top of things; one who finds out by chasing is dealing with a shop that is not.
How quickly should a stockout be acted on?
The containment steps belong in the first ten minutes or so. Restocking can wait until the same day, because it is the slowest part and nothing about it changes what is already in the queue.
What should happen after the stockout is resolved?
Check whether the reorder point was wrong or whether the alert was ignored. They look identical from the outside and they need completely different fixes.