Retailers stock alternative products to mitigate out-of-stocks, yet many customers reject these substitutes because they don’t align with specific expectations—be it taste, brand affinity, dietary preference, or price sensitivity.

This mismatch causes shoppers to forego buying altogether, walk out, or abandon their online carts, wasting marketing investments and disrupting the retailer’s ability to satisfy fundamental buying jobs-to-be-done.

The tension lies in how retailers have inventory, but not the right 'fit'—costing them both the immediate sale and future trust.

Current retail systems lack the ability to capture granular customer preferences and context at the point-of-decision, meaning offered substitutes are generic rather than precisely tailored.

Additionally, real-time customer communication and adaptive recommendation engines are underdeveloped in bricks-and-mortar and many digital settings.