With baby gear, most consumers have a rough “due date” for when they’ll need an item and can plan months ahead. But the unexpected is urgent.
“Strollers, car seats, they aren’t optional. These are products that customers literally cannot wait to buy when they need them,” said Amy Venzke, owner of Strolleria, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based baby gear store with an online presence. Pish Posh Baby revamped its website to include an out-of-stock notification feature so that parents can be alerted as soon as something is available — and it also takes some of the work off their plates because they don’t have to keep returning to a website to check for a product, according to Pish Posh Baby COO Charlie Birnbaum.
“Instead of saying that this car seat isn’t available at all, we’re now offering pre-sales and customers are buying items with an expected future ship date,” Venzke told NBC News. “We don’t think customers want to be in a position of uncertainty.” Birnbaum said even though some companies stopped manufacturing certain items to focus on their key offerings, there are still times when a season-specific item such as a travel stroller will be unavailable for so long it misses its intended season. He anticipates that the issues customers faced with finding travel strollers over the summer will repeat themselves with stroller foot muffs this winter.