Do you have enough or too much variety in your product range? Do you really know which discounts are eroding your margins? We believe an effective product range is one based on close co-operation between commercial purchasing power and financial planning.  Harmonising roles and responsibilities between purchasing, merchandising and the supply chain ensures the right products are in the right place and in the right quantities.

We’ll help you introduce a category management system that is based on differentiation in the supplier base per product group. For that, you need a clear category vision: How large is a product group, and what are the most important sub-categories? What are the most important brands and products in these groups? Once we have answered those questions and more, we’ll look at which sales channels and which purchasing strategy is the most appropriate.

Merchandising is all about presenting the right products and services in the right place and at the right time and price to meet your commercial objectives. We’ll assist you in formulating and developing your merchandise strategy and instruments that link to your positioning strategy, and support you in managing your promotion process and reducing out-of-stock.

The process involves evaluating customer and product groups, channel segmentation and pricing, and producing a thorough product range analysis that gives the profitability of each product. At the end of the process, you’ll know which product groups to focus on. You’ll also be able to link your long-term objectives with product introductions via a budget cycle.