William likes Special K cereal and eats it almost every morning. When he went to the grocery today, there was no Special K on the shelf. According to research, how does a customer like William typically view a product that is out of stock?

William likes Special K cereal and eats it almost every morning. When he went to the grocery today, there was no Special K on the shelf. According to research, how does a customer like William typically view a product that is out of stock?

Customers view stockouts as an indication of the store's poor management of inventory.

The stockout will lead the customer to buy an item that is similar to the out$-$of$-$stock item.

Customers who cannot buy the out$-$of$-$stock item will not buy an item similar to that item.

The tendency to buy an out$-$of$-$stock item decreases with every subsequent stockout.