Assortment matrix of the store

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Before the transition of our economy to market relations, the retail retailer had no problem determining the optimal assortment. There was one task - to fill the shelves with at least something. Therefore, the understanding and application of the term "assortment matrix" came much later - through losses, disposal of expired products, overflow of warehouse balances with slow-moving items. Those who survived and developed were those who realized in time that without constant analysis of activities and computerization of the trading process, you will not last long on the market.

If we do not take into account the complexity of foreign terms, the assortment matrix of a store is a list of goods, the presence of which on the shelf and in the minimum irreducible balance in the warehouse is mandatory. Before compiling it, the store strategy, its target consumer, age, income level are determined. If it is decided to position the store as a discounter with low prices, then it would not occur to anyone to include elite whiskey in its matrix, just as inexpensive stampedrims for wheels.

It is compiled by groups of goods. Each SKU (assortment item) is included in the matrix based on the analysis performed. The average turnover period of a unit, the target segment of consumers who prefer this position, possible analogues, suppliers are determined.

It often happens that competing suppliers offer the same product. For a retailer, this situation is beneficial: the purchase is made from the supplier who offered the lowest price and favorable terms of delivery and payment. This encourages the second supplier to offer even better terms.

What is the balance of assortment for?

The responsibility of a manager or other person who works with suppliers is to constantly monitor inventory balances. In addition to other benefits, the assortment matrix allows you to avoid abuse by sales personnel. It happens that an unscrupulous supplier, using the personal interest of a purchasing manager, sells a slow-moving product or a popular product to a retail outlet, but in an amount exceeding the normal demand of the store.

If there is an approved assortment matrix, ordering a product that is not in it (or obviously more than the minimum stock) is a noticeable violation that neither the manager nor the supplier will do.

Today, in order to stay on the market, a market retailer is forced to respond quickly to all changes, so the assortment matrix isnot ossified dogma. Every employee of the enterprise should know it. To do this, a periodic analysis of the store's turnover and the formation of an assortment matrix are made, and this process is constant and uninterrupted.

If some SKU is no longer sold (the price has increased, the quality has decreased, the preferences of the main category of buyers have changed), it is promptly replaced by a more popular analogue. The external environment is monitored (appearance of competitors, construction of housing within the radius of influence of the point, changes in the economic environment of the city), and matrix adjustments are made based on its results.