Housewares buyers talk about creating a “dominant assortment” in various categories, but this term (and concept) isn’t very common in other retail fields. Thinking about creating a well-balanced assortment can be very helpful in making buying decisions, and in creating a store with a focused look.focused look.

Before considering how you plan your assortment, you need to decide on your store’s product categories. Tracking sales (and wholesale purchases) by category will let you know whether you are allotting inventory dollars and sales space to the types of merchandise generating the most sales for you.

One you have your categories set, you can look at the assortment within each one. An assortment within a category of merchandise usually means that you carry more than one brand, and a variety of price points. Department stores traditionally had three levels of pricing: good, better and best. But you can certainly get by with only two if you know your customers well. And the number of brands you carry will depend in part on your space, and available inventory dollars.

Why carry more than one brand within a category? It offers your customers choices, and allows them to compare features. We carry a few more expensive lines that we know won’t sell quickly, but they make the other products in their category look less pricey.

One of the expectations of a specialty shop is that you, as a buyer, will have “edited the assortment” to present only the brands you stand behind. That means that no matter how many lines you decide to feature, they should all be ones you are proud to feature

Color assortment is also an important part of the product assortment in many categories, and pattern and size come into play sometimes as well. Offering consumers a reasonable number of choices makes the shopping experience pleasant — but too many options can be overwhelming. Some of the successful gift and home decor stores show an awareness of this by having a large quantity of each items that they select, instead of smaller quantities in a greater variety.

Bob Coviello, the late gourmet store expert, said in his Gourmet Retailer article on merchandise assorting and classifying that “suspected underperformance in sales is [often caused by the fact] that the store is poorly assorted and poorly merchandised, and merchandise is not classified well for analysis purposes. Conversely, Mmaking sure that your store has the right mix of products is one of the keys to success.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder