How to choose the assortment of a gift shop

The most common way to screw up a product assortment isn't buying the wrong thing: it's buying too many different ones. A small store with a thousand items has full shelves and an empty cash register, because the capital is spread across items that only turn over once a month. We manage direct, corner, and franchise stores, and this is the lesson that has cost us the most: fewer references, more depthWhat follows is the method we use on our shelves, not a theory.

Start from space, not from the catalog

Count the linear meters of shelving you have, not the ideas you have. Each shelf has a finite number of visible sides, and a side with only one piece doesn't sell: it looks like leftovers. The rule of thumb we use is that each item on display must have at least three visible pieces, otherwise it should be removed and replaced. Once you've done that, you know how many items you can really afford, and it's almost always a lower number than you had in mind. From there, you make your choices: first the categories that bring in people, then those that raise the bill, and finally the items that create ambiance in the display but sell poorly.

Divide the shelf into three different jobs

Each product in the store does one of three jobs. There is the recall: low price, recognizable, it is at the entrance and serves to get people to come in and touch it. There is the I earn: good margin, zero explanation, it's at eye level. And there's the completion: the item added to the cash register once the decision has already been made. A healthy assortment contains all three; those that do poorly usually have only recalls, meaning high turnover and little margin, or only profit-making items that no one comes in looking for.

The season decides half the work

In our tour, the year is divided into short seasons: back to school, Christmas, Valentine's Day and holidays, spring, summer and the beach, Halloween. Each season deserves its own set-up. Before That serves its purpose and is dismantled before it's finished: unsold seasonal merchandise isn't unsold, it's capital tied up for twelve months. The calendar matters more than taste: a Christmas display window assembled at the end of October works three times as hard as one assembled in December.

Tidy up based on what's available, not what you like.

Dopo tre settimane il negozio ti ha gia' detto cosa vuole. Il pezzo che ha venduto si riordina, quello fermo si sposta una volta sola in un punto migliore e, se resta fermo, si sconta e si chiude. Con l'ordine minimo di 150 euro + IVA e la spedizione in 48/72 ore, riordinare due volte al mese costa meno che sbagliare un ordine grande all'inizio. E' la ragione per cui conviene partire stretti: la prima lista di acquisto e' un'ipotesi, la seconda e' un dato.

Request access: price list reserved for retailers

Frequently Asked Questions