I Buy It, Therefore Everyone Else Must!

(I work for a pet food manufacturer, and we make a variety of pet foods. Of the food we make, we have one brand of cat food of which there are only four flavors. Two of these flavors have, unfortunately, been performing poorly, so the decision was recently made to have these flavors discontinued. For some reason, our customers have a very confused opinion of our food, and this is a call I frequently receive.)

Customer: “Hi. I can’t find your salmon flavor of cat food anymore; is there a problem?”

Me: “Hello. Yes, unfortunately, our salmon flavor cat food has been discontinued. This decision was made based on the rate of sales for the product, as well as extensive market research.”

Customer: “Rate of sales? That can’t be right! Every time I’ve looked for the product, the shelves have always been empty because it sells out so fast! That shows it’s so popular!”

Me: “Actually, it’s not available on shelves because, due to the low rate of sales, and customers not purchasing this particular flavor, stores have slowly stopped making it available, in favor of the other, more popular flavors that perform well.”

Customer: “Oh. Oh, I see.”

(How a product never being available translates into “super popular,” I will never understand. Other responses to the low rate of sales have been, “But that can’t be right! I buy two bags every month!”)