But is it in stock?

[paulastro]

Steve, I think you're about to receive a drop in orders while folks wait to see what you putting in the clearance sale     Personally, I'm hoping you'll be putting a slightly shop-soiled Celestron CPC 8 inch in the sale!

Forever optimistic,

[FLO]

Cart before horses and all that, surely that stock check would be far less stressful and arduous if you had the mega sale beforehand?

Just a thought to make life simpler   Perhaps you could keep a few essential bits in, but otherwise a nice clean empty store room is highly recommended.. 

Carrying only the bare minimum stock doesn't make life easier, it makes it harder  And it is our ability to carry stock that separates us from most of our competitors. 

The stock-take will enable us to install the new inventory system which will lead to reliable stock availability indicators at our website. That is our primary focus. The clearance sale is a separate event that will happen after the stock availability indicators. 

Steve 

[SnakeyJ]

Carrying only the bare minimum stock doesn't make life easier, it makes it harder  And it is our ability to carry stock that separates us from most of our competitors. 

The stock-take will enable us to install the new inventory system which will lead to reliable stock availability indicators at our website. That is our primary focus. The clearance sale is a separate event that will happen after the stock availability indicators. 

Steve 

Do appreciate this Steve - it was only a little tongue in cheek subversion.   Online stock indication will be a major advance and, coupled with a reasonable holding will be a major advantage to both your business and the community.   

Although I enjoy the convenience of a good online operation, a definite advantage for me living on the Isle of Wight - one day I shall make the visit in person, hopefully with lots of cash to exchange for astro goodies

[FLO]

Do appreciate this Steve - it was only a little tongue in cheek subversion.   

Aaaahh  

I need more caffeine. 

[AlexB67]

May I suggest you unpack an pentax xw 7mm and use it as a test item for something, prefably scratch the barrel so it worth less and can be sold as an ex-display item,  I'll be there to pick it up at reduced price

On a more serious note. Good luck with the business, always look forward to buying/ordering my next toy whenever I can if you have what I need at the time 

[FLO]

We're back  

We should be back up to speed by Tue-Wed. Thank-you for your patience 

[r3i]

Good luck with the inventory system, I'm sure it will be well worth it.  A few years ago when I got back into astronomy in an active role, I found it rather frustrating that online vendors did not display a stock level so I reckon a properly maintained inventory system will give you a big advantage.  Folks are more likely to buy if they can see that a vendor has a product in stock, rather than have to ring around to get a stock level.

Presumably the system will let us know when out of stock products are likely to be back in stock, and also if products will be special order only (i.e. where it is not economically viable to keep a hugely expensive or rarely sold product on the shelf)?

The tricky thing of course is to keep the inventory system in sync with the real stock situation, otherwise it could back-fire if somebody orders on the basis that the website shows it is in stock, only to find out afterwards that you are actually out of stock.

[FLO]

You are absolutely right 

Some competitors carry much less stock but list everything as available. I often meet someone at a Star Party who says "I was going to order it from you but your website said 'Unavailable' so I ordered at XYX, but then XYX emailed to say they didn't have it either so I had to wait anyway". We don't want to put ourselves at a disadvantage. And of course some large heavy items are drop-shipped because that is the most sensible way to handle them (cheaper to deliver and they only run the delivery gauntlet once) so our system will need to cater for those. And as you say it will need to be accurate and real-time otherwise people will lose confidence. It is quite a challenge! 

I am sure we will retain the 'Notify me when available' button

Steve 

[Naemeth]

I am sure we will retain the 'Notify me when available' button

Steve 

Do keep it, products like the Telrad are never in stock for more than 3 weeks at a time so it will always be good to keep informed of the nearest shipment

[emadmoussa]

Maybe including a ''email me when back in stock'' button will be ideal. I am expecting the re-stocking of flocking materials impatiently

[FLO]

I am hoping we can make our 'Notify me when available' button more intelligent. For example, today we received some Celestron Starsense. We haven't marked them as in stock because our website would automatically send out emails to 'everyone' who clicked the button but we only have enough to cover about 1/3rd of the existing backorders - you can imagine the drama that would cause 

[emadmoussa]

I am hoping we can make our 'Notify me when available' button more intelligent. For example, today we received some Celestron Starsense. We haven't marked them as in stock because our website would automatically send out emails to 'everyone' who clicked the button but we only have enough to cover about 1/3rd of the existing backorders - you can imagine the drama that would cause 

Absolutely. Quite a monstrous job

[andrew63]

Any updates on when the 'battle' i mean clearance will commence ?

andrew

[FLO]

Now there's a coincidence, I have just logged in to update this thread  

We are on track so are only days away from switching on the new stock availability indicators.

While we prepare for the changeover our current 'in stock/out of stock' indications might not be reliable so apologies in advance if it causes confusion.

Thank-you for your patience. 

[FLO]

Aaaah….  You meant the clearance

The stock display indicators will go live next week (it is taking us a while but we want to get it right) then the clearance sale will begin the following week. It needs to be in that order because we need to process the clearance items through the new inventory system. 

Hope that helps

Steve 

[emadmoussa]

Any collimation kit included in the clearance, Steve?

[FLO]

We don't know yet Emad  

[bogdog]

hope you come across a Celestron Polar Axis Scope for cg5..bought the mount 2 weeks ago from you  

says out of stock so im hoping one has fallen from a shelf and is hiding nearby  

[FLO]

We are on track so are only days away from switching on the new stock availability indicators.

While we prepare for the changeover our current 'in stock/out of stock' indications might not be reliable so apologies in advance if it causes confusion.

The changeover will happen tomorrow and Saturday.

Most of the work will be done late at night but if you are browsing our site and things look a little odd or some coloured lorries appear and disappear please don't be concerned, it will only be Grant updating the website. Also, if you have recently clicked on a product's 'Notify me when available' button you might receive an automated email saying an item is back in stock. Please don't pay it any attention. The true stock availably of all our products will soon be displayed for all to see. 

It is surprising how much work and preparation is necessary to enable reliable stock availability indicators. We are not going to simply add some half-hearted traffic-lights then manually change the colours, we have completely rebuilt our inventory and order processing systems to deliver genuine real-time updates and delivery ETAs. No system is 100% perfect but we are aiming high to ensure ours is amongst the best in the business. We hope you will approve

Oh, and the clearance sale starts next week

Steve 

[ChrisLX200]

>Oh, and the clearance sale starts next week

Oops - there better not be any 2" IDAS filters in there because I just ordered one!

ChrisH

[daz]

Oh, and the clearance sale starts next week

Please don't let me be in a meeting....

Please don't let me be in a meeting....

Please don't let me be in a meeting....

Please don't let me be in a meeting....

...

[Naemeth]

The changeover will happen tomorrow and Saturday.

Most of the work will be done late at night but if you are browsing our site and things look a little odd or some coloured lorries appear and disappear please don't be concerned, it will only be Grant updating the website. Also, if you have recently clicked on a product's 'Notify me when available' button you might receive an automated email saying an item is back in stock. Please don't pay it any attention. The true stock availably of all our products will soon be displayed for all to see. 

It is surprising how much work and preparation is necessary to enable reliable stock availability indicators. We are not going to simply add some half-hearted traffic-lights then manually change the colours, we have completely rebuilt our inventory and order processing systems to deliver genuine real-time updates and delivery ETAs. No system is 100% perfect but we are aiming high to ensure ours is amongst the best in the business. We hope you will approve

Oh, and the clearance sale starts next week

Steve 

By next week, do you mean from the 3rd of March? Or perhaps after the 6th when I'll be back in the UK ?

[FLO]

I'm not sure when next week, it depends how long it takes us to enter the stock into the new inventory system. Hopefully you will have internet connection  

[FLO]

The new stock availability indicators are now in place and the system is responding to orders and dispatches in real time 

We didn't want to deliver a half-hearted impersonation of a working system so have spent considerable time and effort rebuilding our order processing and stock management systems. What started off as a seemingly simple exercise has in fact been the single most ambitious update we have ever undertaken! 

We hope you find our green, orange, blue and red lorries useful but if you have any questions or concerns please let us know. 

Steve & the FLO team

[nightfisher]

Looking good Steve, really good to see you making improvements to an already good system