What should I do when there is no more stock for a product (e-commerce) ?

[SeoMartin1]

I´ve several clientes with magento, wp and brazilian Vtex....  usually when a product is out of stock the system allow you to delete or desallow but you will create a 404 erros. There is a plugin to redirect disallow products to home os a personalized page... looks good.

But I´ve just realized when you edit the name (and url) of a product it creats automatic redirect of the product...

Now I´m wondering never delete or disallow a product page anymore.... always edit with a new product so the redirect can send some PR to the new produtc....

Sounds too stupid or make any sense?

[SeoMartin1]

In this particular case is a female clothing company that provides new stuff each 3 months, they never repete the products!-)

Thanks for all the answers and I think I wlll customize and improve the user experience by implementing a dynamically-generated message via cookies during a 301 redirect. This would result in users who have landed on expired products receiving a message letting them know that the original product they were seeking is no longer available. This enhances the user experience because it informs users on why they are being redirected.

As I´m working with magento I will try to find a ready to go solution as a plugin but If I don´t, I will make my own and send to the forum !-)

Many Thanks !-)

[KeriMorgret]

Stephanie Chang wrote about this topic on the Moz blog at http://moz.com/blog/how-should-you-handle-expired-content as well, and that could give you some ideas too.

[yeagerd]

Your client's would have to OK it but often when products are no longer available it is an internal issue and not a lack of manufacturing.  On my sites, if I chose to drop a line I will offer both alternatives if I have any but then also a link to where the exact product can be purchased (rel-nofollow of course).

It is more important to me that customers feel like clicking the link to my shop will never be a waste of time than it is to hope for the occasional conversion to another product.

Once a few click throughs mount up, I also find products I have the that the other shop does not and send a "Hi you may have noticed the X clicks I sent you for X product at URL.  I noticed you do not offer X but have content relevant to it.  If you think it would help us both out, I would welcome the partnership and be happy to keep sending business your way.  I think a link to X would work well "here", let me know your thoughts.

I sell a lot more to people who are looking for exactly what I have then I ever did tried to convincing them that what I have is what they are really looking for.

[JamesNorquay]

Two options.

Option 1 - 301 redirect to a similar sub category level pages for that product.

Option 2 - Set up a landing page which states this product is no longer for sale, and show up similar items for sale. this is a common strategy used by group buying sites.

[David_ODonnell]

In the case where the client wants the product page removed from the site, we've had custom programming to implement 301 redirects, up one category level, so that the customer is take to relevant products in the same category that they were seeking.

[BrightHealth]

I agree with Todd unless you have a good recommendations engine. If that's the case, related or suggested products would still provide value to the user even if the product is no longer attainable.

[toddmumford]

If the product will be coming back, I would direct those platforms to simply notify the user on the product page - while keeping the product page indexed.

If the product is not set to return, redirect to a similar product.

Hope this helps.