not just random

At the end of last year, my wife and I were shopping for Christmas trees. We found an artificial, but very real looking tree - only to find out the store did not have a packaged one in storage. Checking their system, an employee was able to point us to a different store location that *may* be able to help us. We ended up going for an alternative at a different store altogether.

More recently, I was shopping for a new jacket. I found one online that I quite liked and ended up visiting two local store locations without success. The size I need is currently unavailable online. I know there are quite a few more store location within a driving distance of maybe two hours. How do I tell which store carries the item in the required size and color?

I could call them all until either I find a store that has the jacket or I run out of stores, in which case I am entirely out of luck. The amount of effort is directly proportional to the number of stores I need to contact. Besides, there may be a store that is further away than I am willing to drive, but that might still be willing to send me the jacket via mail. How would I know?

One solution for this may be a web service that allows me to search for a product based on geographic area, i.e. users get to specify a product name and a zip code and the system provides a list of stores in the area that carry the item.

There are a few companies that work on services like that, including: Yokel, NearbyNow and Krillion.

Some websites, such as Best Buy can show you, which nearby stores carry a specific inventory item. Amazon.com provides a local pickup option for lots of their products.

None of these options helped me with my jacket, but it did get me thinking: How would one go about getting access to product availability for brands that are not already providing it? How much interest is there from manufacturer side? How about potential customers?

More on this later.