An update of a popular blog post from October 24, 2016

Do you know how many different types of toothpaste are offered in the average grocery store?  A Consumer Reports article said 27 — and that’s just under the Crest brand. Colgate added another 32 (up from 25 when this post was first written). It’s no wonder that their survey showed that 36% of those responding felt overwhelmed by the information they had to process to make a buying decision.

A good specialty shop simplifies life for the consumer by editing choices down to a reasonable number.  Traditional retailing wisdom would say that for every product line, you should do this by offering a “good, better and best” option — but that price-based approach is not necessarily the best way to determine your product mix. Often a store knows the price point that is most attractive for its clientele, so it isn’t necessary to offer three different ranges.

How do you determine your product selection? Let’s look at the candle category as an example.  It’s important to cover the basics – white tea lights, votives, and tapers would fall into this category. And perhaps you’d like to also offer these candles in a range of solid colors, learning as you go which ones are the most popular in your area and concentrating on those. Keep in mind that the basics don’t remain the same over time – you need to keep up with market trends. Pillars were considered essentials ten years ago, and now scented candles, along with container and jar candles, are the biggest sellers.

After you’ve stocked the basics, you’ll of course have a wide range of other options. Should you go with one line and carry almost every product? To my mind. that comes back to the toothpaste example.  I think it is better to work with a knowledgable sales rep to bring in the best sellers of a line, for example three different container candles in the six best-selling scents.  This will make for a great display, and offer customers many options — but not too many.  Adding several other lines, edited this way, will give you a nice selection.

The opposite of too many options is of course too few. I’ve been in a number of shops where the selection is so carefully edited that you can see the whole inventory at one glance. The delight of serendipity is missing in these stores, along with the consumer’s ability to select from a satisfying range of options. As in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it’s important not to have too many choices, or too few — you want your merchandise selection to be just right

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder