Dive Brief:

• Sometimes retail innovation is all about perfecting a product as mundane as a travel mug. Specifically, the Yeti Rambler is a $40 stainless-steel insulated mug made by Austin, TX-based Yeti Coolers that many retailers are having trouble keeping in stock.

• The under $50 price tag on smaller versions plus the all-around utility has made the Yeti an ideal holiday gift—if you can get it.

• It’s providing retailers like West Marine some new customers, when people find they have the mug in stock. But margins are squeezed by the retailer’s holiday free shipping order.

Dive Insight:

The runaway success of the un-bejeweled Yeti Rambler mugs shows just how difficult it is for retailers (and manufacturers for that matter) to anticipate consumer response and have supply chains at the ready to meet it. Ace Hardware has been selling the mugs only in stores because supply is so limited, while Cabela's is also scrambling to keep up with demand. 

While it’s unlikely that many retailers have any dearth of supply of Star Wars merchandise this time of year, given many retailers' months-ahead inventory management of the popular toys, the humble Yeti product is another story.

It’s led some retailers to be creative. To fulfill orders of consumers searching for the Rambler mug online, West Marine has moved most of its supply to meet web demand. It’s paying for it because of its holiday free shipping policy, which makes a $40 mug not very profitable. But perhaps that will be a well spent marketing expense if many of those new customers stick around into 2016.