Right after I placed my order online I received this emailed order confirmation. Ho ho ho.

Verily we just had a veritable festive holiday season. All across this great nation currency (and credit) was exchanged for consumer goods, primarily cheaply made shit from China. It was truly a touching and traditional way to honor the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. (Even though historians tell us he was more likely born on July 22nd.)

How well did we honor Him?

• Web visits to online retailers were up for the second year in a row.
• Thanksgiving saw a 6% increase.
• Black Friday was up 7%.
• Cyber Monday was up 11%.
• Christmas was up a whopping 27%.
• The day after Christmas was only up 1% but it still counts.

Halleluja! He is risen along with the economy!

That’s a lot of online orders. But, alas, no stats released yet on how many of those last-minute shoppers were told their coveted items were “out of stock.” That’s the internet’s dirty little secret. Discussion about that peculiar aspect of online shopping would be a real bummer, wouldn’t it?

My research shows that 87% of online retailers make no effort to show real-time inventory status.
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