Marketing Through Stockouts: What to Do When Your Best Seller Is Gone

Your top-selling product just went out of stock. Maybe your supplier is behind. Maybe demand spiked unexpectedly. Maybe a container is sitting in a port somewhere. Whatever the reason, the product that drives 30% of your revenue is showing "Out of Stock" on your website, and you are watching potential sales disappear in real time.

This is one of the most stressful situations in eCommerce. And I have seen brands handle it in exactly two ways:

The panic response: Turn off all marketing, throw up an "Out of Stock" message, and wait. Hope it comes back soon. Lose momentum, lose customers, lose rankings.

The strategic response: Use the stockout as a marketing opportunity. Capture demand. Build anticipation. Protect your customer relationships. Come back stronger than before.

Guess which one we recommend.

Let me walk you through the exact playbook for marketing through stockouts and supply chain disruptions. Because this is not an "if" for most eCommerce brands — it is a "when."

The First 24 Hours: Triage

When you realize a product is going out of stock (or already has), the first 24 hours determine everything. Here is the immediate action list:

Turn On Back-in-Stock Notifications

This is the single highest-impact thing you can do. Instead of showing "Out of Stock" and a dead end, show "Out of Stock — Notify Me When It's Back" with an email capture form.

In Klaviyo, you can set up a Back in Stock flow that captures emails from your product pages and automatically sends a notification when the product is restocked. If you do not have this set up yet, do it today — even if nothing is out of stock right now. It needs to be ready before you need it.

Here is why this matters so much: The people who click "Notify Me" are your highest-intent customers. They came to your site, found the product they wanted, and instead of leaving, they gave you their email. When that product comes back, the Back in Stock email typically generates $2-$8 in revenue per recipient. That is 10-20x higher than a standard campaign.

Every email you capture during the stockout is revenue waiting to happen.

Update Your Paid Media

If you are running ads to a product that is out of stock, you are burning money. Every click sends someone to a dead end, and your return on ad spend craters.

Pause product-specific ads for the out-of-stock item immediately.

Shift budget to alternatives. If you sell Product A and Product B and Product A goes out of stock, redirect Product A's ad budget to Product B. You already know those customers are in-market for your category. Give them something to buy.

Update your Google Shopping feed. If you are running Google Shopping campaigns, make sure out-of-stock products are marked as such in your product feed. Google will stop showing them automatically if your feed is properly configured, but check to be sure.

Update Your Website

Beyond the Back in Stock notification, make a few quick changes to your site:

Cross-sell on the out-of-stock product page. "This product is currently out of stock. In the meantime, you might love..." and show 3-4 related products. Do not let the out-of-stock page be a dead end. Make it a detour.

Update your homepage. If the out-of-stock product was featured on your homepage, replace it with something you actually have. Featuring a product people cannot buy is frustrating and damages trust.

Update your navigation. If the out-of-stock product was in your "Best Sellers" or "Featured" collection, swap it out temporarily.

Week 1: Communication and Demand Capture

Email Your Existing Customers

Here is a reality most brands miss: A stockout, communicated well, actually builds loyalty. It tells customers that your product is in demand. Other people want it too. And you are being transparent about the situation.

Send an email to customers who have previously purchased the out-of-stock product:

Subject line: "An update on [Product Name]"

Body (keep it simple): "Hey [First Name], we wanted to let you know that [Product Name] is temporarily out of stock due to overwhelming demand. We are working with our supplier and expect to have it back by [estimated date].

In the meantime, we have set up a priority notification list. As a previous customer, you will be the first to know when it is back — and we are giving priority list members early access before it goes back on the site.

[Button: Get Priority Access]

Thank you for your patience. It means a lot to us."

This email does several things:

1. It turns a negative (stockout) into a positive (your product is so popular it sold out)
2. It captures demand on a notification list
3. It creates exclusivity ("priority access")
4. It builds trust through transparency

Social Media Announcement

Post about the stockout on your social channels. Not as an apology — as a milestone.

"[Product Name] has officially sold out. We did not expect this kind of demand, and we are genuinely overwhelmed. New stock is on the way, and we will be opening pre-orders on [date]. Stay tuned."

This framing works because scarcity creates desire. "Sold out" sounds better than "out of stock." The former implies success. The latter implies failure. Same situation, completely different perception.

Launch a Pre-Order or Waitlist

If you know when the product is coming back, consider opening pre-orders. Shopify has several apps that handle this (Pre-Order Manager, PreOrder Now, Purple Dot).

Pre-orders let you:

• Continue generating revenue during the stockout
• Gauge demand for your restock order (should you order more than last time?)
• Keep customers engaged (they have skin in the game now)

Important: Be honest about timelines. If you say the product ships in 3 weeks, it needs to ship in 3 weeks. Broken pre-order promises destroy trust faster than anything else.

If you cannot commit to a timeline, do a waitlist instead of a pre-order. Same email capture, no commitment. Just "Join the waitlist and be the first to know."

Weeks 2-4: Maintain Momentum

The biggest risk during a prolonged stockout is losing momentum. Customers forget about you. Your email engagement drops. Your social following stagnates. Your SEO traffic declines because you are not updating content.

Here is how to keep the engine running:

Push Alternative Products Hard

Identify the 3-5 products that are most similar to the out-of-stock item. These become your hero products for the next few weeks.

In email: Send a campaign positioning these products as alternatives. "While [Product Name] is away, meet the rest of the family." Highlight what makes each alternative great.

In paid media: Your ad budget that was going to the out-of-stock product should now be promoting these alternatives. Use similar audiences and targeting.

On your site: Put these alternatives in prominent positions — homepage features, collection page banners, and the out-of-stock product page cross-sell section.

Create Content Around the Product

A stockout is actually a great time to create content that builds anticipation for the return:

Behind-the-scenes content. Show the manufacturing process, the sourcing, the quality control. "Here is why [Product Name] takes time to make." This educates customers and justifies the wait.

Customer stories. Reach out to past customers and ask for testimonials or user-generated content. Feature these in emails and social posts. "Here is what [Customer Name] says about [Product Name]." Social proof during a stockout makes the product feel even more desirable.

Comparison content. If the product has competitors, create a blog post comparing them. "[Product Name] vs. [Competitor]: Which Is Better?" This captures search traffic from people actively looking for the product and positions yours as the winner — even though they cannot buy it yet.

Keep Your Email Cadence Going

Do not go silent. This is one of the biggest mistakes brands make during stockouts. They feel like they have nothing to promote, so they stop emailing.

Your email list does not care whether one product is in stock. They care about:

• Other products you sell
• Educational content
• Your brand story
• Customer stories
• Industry tips
• Behind-the-scenes content

You can absolutely maintain a 2x per week sending cadence without promoting the out-of-stock product. In fact, this is an opportunity to introduce your audience to parts of your catalog they might not have explored.

The Restock Launch: How to Come Back Strong

When the product is back, do not just quietly flip it to "In Stock" and hope people notice. Treat it like a product launch.

The Restock Sequence

48 hours before restock: Send a teaser email to your Back in Stock notification list and your priority access list. "It is almost here. [Product Name] drops back on [Date] at [Time]. Priority access link included."

Day of restock: Send the main notification email. Subject line: "[Product Name] is back." Clear, direct, no games. Include the "priority access" link that goes live before you update the main site. This rewards the people who waited and creates a burst of orders that signals to your platforms that the product is hot.

24 hours after restock: Post on social media. "It is back. And based on how fast it went last time, we would not wait." This creates urgency without being dishonest.

48 hours after restock: Send a campaign to your broader email list (not just the notification list). "In case you missed it — [Product Name] is back in stock." This catches the people who were not on the notification list but might still be interested.

One week after restock: Send a retargeting campaign to anyone who visited the product page during the stockout but did not sign up for notifications. "Last time, [Product Name] sold out in [X] weeks. Just saying."

Restock Your Ads

Turn product-specific ads back on. But do it with updated creative:

• "Back in Stock" messaging in the ad copy and creative
• "Sold Out in [X] Weeks Last Time" for urgency
• Update any product images if you have new photos
• Start with your proven audiences and expand from there

The "Back in Stock" messaging typically outperforms standard product ads by 20-40% in the first week because it combines social proof (it sold out) with urgency (it might sell out again).

Long-Term: Building a Stockout Playbook

If you are in eCommerce long enough, stockouts will happen again. Here is how to prepare:

Set Up Your Infrastructure Now

1. Back in Stock flow in Klaviyo. Do this today. It takes 30 minutes and it is one of the highest-ROI flows you can build.

2. A pre-order app on standby. Install it, configure it, test it. When a stockout happens, you want to flip it on in minutes, not spend a day figuring out how it works.

3. An email template for stockout communications. Have a pre-written template that you can customize quickly. First-mover advantage matters when a stockout hits.

4. A paid media SOP for stockouts. Document the process: pause product ads, shift budget, update creative. When you are stressed about inventory, the last thing you want is to also be figuring out ad strategy on the fly.

Monitor Inventory Proactively

The best stockout strategy is to not have stockouts. Set up low-inventory alerts in Shopify so you know when a product is getting low before it hits zero. When you get the alert:

• Place your reorder immediately
• Start building your Back in Stock notification list (even before it is actually out of stock — "Selling fast, get notified when we restock")
• Adjust ad spend downward to slow demand while you wait for inventory
• Prepare your restock content and emails

Track the Impact

After every stockout, do a post-mortem:

• How much revenue did you lose during the stockout?
• How many emails did you capture via Back in Stock notifications?
• How did the restock launch perform compared to a normal sales day?
• Did alternative products see a lift during the stockout?
• What would you do differently next time?

This data helps you build a better playbook each time.

The Counterintuitive Truth About Stockouts

Here is something that took me a while to learn: A well-managed stockout can actually increase total revenue over the period compared to a scenario where the product stayed in stock.

Why? Because the scarcity creates demand. The Back in Stock list captures high-intent buyers. The restock launch concentrates that demand into a burst of sales. And the narrative of "we sold out because demand was that high" is a powerful brand story.

I am not suggesting you intentionally go out of stock. But when it happens — and it will — know that it is not a disaster. It is a marketing opportunity dressed in uncomfortable clothing.

If you are dealing with a stockout right now and want a second set of eyes on your strategy, or if you want to set up the infrastructure before the next one hits, book a call with us. We have managed stockout strategies for multiple brands and we can get your Back in Stock flow, email sequences, and restock launch plan set up fast.