Stockouts Are Piling Up. Retailers Push Substitutes to Avoid Empty Holiday Carts.

Retailers are pushing holiday shoppers to accept substitutions for items that are out of stock or in limited quantities due to supply-chain woes. Some consumers aren’t quite sold on the idea.

Chains from Foot Locker Inc. to Home Depot Inc. have long sought to prevent shoppers from leaving their stores or websites with empty carts. But this type of suggestive selling took on greater urgency during the pandemic, when overseas factories temporarily shut, making many items scarce.