Insight
Not every new item belongs in every store.
By Thijs Terwiel
Every year, suppliers launch dozens of new items. The classic mistake is pushing all of them to every customer.
Three rules I work with
- 1.Give every channel a role. Specialist stores get the hero items and exclusives first: they build the brand and sell at full price. Mass retail gets the volume drivers. Discount gets value-engineered versions, or the range a season later.
- 2.Protect the price. The moment the same item is visibly cheaper elsewhere, the specialist delists it, and you lose the store that built the brand.
- 3.Decide what to cut before you launch. Ask your sales team one question per new range: which three items will we regret? It takes ten minutes and saves months of slow-moving stock.
After launch, track two numbers
Rate of sale per store per week, and sell-through after eight weeks. Set the trigger in advance. For example: below 40% sell-through in week eight means swap or promote. Not wait and see.
The tail matters more than you think
The tail is the group of slowest-selling items in a range. In most ranges, the bottom 20% of items brings in a small share of sales, but takes the same shelf space, the same set-up cost and the same forecasting risk as a bestseller. Cutting them is often the fastest margin gain on the table.
Fewer items, in the right channel, at the right price. Less exciting than a big launch. Much better for the bottom line.