State the quantity and any limit beside the sale price, offer rain cheques, and give one person the job of replacing the offer with a sold-out notice everywhere it appears when stock runs out.

Gone by Saturday morning

A weekend special sells out by mid-morning on Saturday. The shelf is empty, but the banner on the website, Thursday's newsletter and Friday's Facebook post keep advertising it.

Customers keep arriving for it through Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Some drove a fair distance, and a few say the store never had enough in the first place.

That last complaint is more than bad feeling. Canada's Competition Act has a rule about advertising bargains a business cannot supply.

What the rule covers

Advertising a product at a bargain price that the business does not supply in reasonable quantities is reviewable conduct under the Act, often called bait and switch.

What counts as reasonable depends on the market, the nature and size of the business, and what the advertisement itself said. A small shop is not expected to stock like a chain.

It is a civil matter rather than a criminal one, but it can still lead to orders and financial penalties. This is general information about the Act, not legal advice on your own promotions.

Every place a special keeps running

A sold-out offer rarely lives in one place. It usually runs in several:

Each keeps working after the stock is gone, and a customer cannot tell which version is current.

Limits stated in the ad

Because the advertisement itself is part of the test, the clearest step is saying in it how much there is: twenty kits, one per customer, Saturday only.

Put the limit beside the price, in the same size of type, on every version of the ad. A limit hidden in small print at the foot of a newsletter helps nobody.

A vague line such as "while quantities last" tells customers far less than a number. A real figure lets them judge whether to come early.

Rain cheques

A rain cheque is a written promise to sell the product, or a similar one, at the sale price later. The Act recognises offering them as one answer to a shortage.

Offer them to everyone who asks, and write down the product, the price, the customer's name and contact details, and a reasonable time to collect.

Say in the ad that rain cheques are available. Customers who know the store will honour the price are far less likely to feel tricked by an empty shelf.

Taking the offer down everywhere at once

When stock runs out, every channel has to change together. That only happens if one person owns the job and has a list of every place the offer appears.

Make the list when the offer is planned, not when it sells out. Include the logins, or the name of whoever can change each item, so nothing waits until Monday.

Change the banner and edit the Facebook post rather than deleting them. Stop any paid promotion, and make sure the page the newsletter links to says sold out.

A worked example

A family-run feed store outside a Cariboo town sells livestock feed, fencing and garden supplies, and in spring everything for backyard chickens.

One spring it advertised a weekend special on a chicken starter kit: a feeder, a waterer and a bag of chick starter, well below the usual total.

The banner went up on Wednesday, the newsletter on Thursday and the Facebook post on Friday. The store had twenty kits, and they were gone by ten on Saturday.

All three kept advertising the kits through the weekend. On Sunday a line of customers asked for them, several after a half-hour drive.

Each special now states the quantity and a limit of one per customer beside the price, and says rain cheques are available. A rain cheque pad sits by the till.

One staff member keeps the list of every place an offer appears. When stock runs out, the banner and the post change to a sold-out notice within the hour.

Every channel now says the same thing at the same time, so a customer who arrives late leaves with a rain cheque rather than a grievance.

A sold-out notice instead of silence

Removing a sold-out offer quietly leaves people who saw it earlier confused. A short notice answers them: sold out, thank you, rain cheques at the counter until a given date.

Leave the notice up until the rain cheque period ends. Someone opening the newsletter a week later then lands on the current answer rather than a missing page.

Ordering for the ad, not for a normal week

Reasonable quantities start with the order. Look at how the item sold at its usual price and at past sale prices, and order for the response a bargain will bring.

If supply is uncertain, advertise the quantity you actually have. When a delivery is late, say so publicly and offer rain cheques from the start.

The counter-case

Some offers are naturally limited and say so: a single floor model, a discontinued colour, the last three of a size. When the ad names the quantity, the shortage is part of the deal.

A price that is not presented as a bargain falls outside this particular rule, though every ad still has to be accurate.

But even a clearly limited offer should come down when it is gone. Customers remember the wasted drive far longer than the wording of the ad.

Running a special that can sell out

  1. Order for the response, not for a normal week.
  2. State the quantity and any limit beside the price.
  3. Say rain cheques are available.
  4. List every place the offer will appear.
  5. Name one person to take it down.
  6. Replace the offer with a sold-out notice.
  7. Keep a rain cheque record at the counter.

Step five is the step that slips. Everyone assumes someone else will change the banner, and the website keeps selling a special the shelf ran out of hours ago.

Emailed specials also face Canada's anti-spam law once it starts applying on July 1, and its rule for a first message to someone a customer passed along is explained in emailing someone a customer recommended.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a problem if a sale item sells out?

Not in itself. The Competition Act is concerned with advertising a bargain the business does not supply in reasonable quantities, judged by the market, its size and the ad.

What is a rain cheque?

A written promise to sell the product, or a similar one, at the sale price within a reasonable time. Offering them to everyone who asks is a recognised answer to a shortage.

Does "while quantities last" protect the store?

It tells customers little. Stating the actual quantity and any per-customer limit beside the price sets a clear expectation, and the advertisement's wording is part of the test.

Should a sold-out offer be deleted?

Replace it instead with a short notice: sold out, thank you, and rain cheques until a given date. People arriving from older links then find the current answer.

Who should take the offer down?

One named person with a list of every place the offer appears and the logins to change each one, so the website, posts and ads change together.

What about the newsletter already sent?

It cannot be recalled, so make sure the page it links to says sold out, with the rain cheque terms. That page is where readers arrive days later.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Specials still advertised after they sell out?

Tell us where your offers appear, and we will set up a sold-out notice your staff can switch on from the counter.

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