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“Every new item creates incremental sales.”
A new SKU may transfer demand from an existing item, dilute velocity, create out-of-stocks, or add cost without growing the category.
C9 • Product Assortment Mini-Course
More SKUs do not create more growth.
The right assortment does.
Learn how to evaluate one real SKU decision at one retailer—so you can decide what to add, keep, fix, replace, or remove without guessing, protecting weak items, or creating unnecessary complexity.
One retailer
One SKU decision
One stronger assortment
Regular price: $297
Founder access
$97
Get Instant Access | $97
Includes the course example assortment tool • 14-day guarantee
The real assortment problem
Every SKU consumes space, cash, attention, and execution capacity.
A product can be “good” and still weaken the assortment when it duplicates another item, confuses the shopper, fragments velocity, increases operational complexity, or no longer supports the retailer’s strategy.
Assortment strategy is not about defending every item.
It is about giving every item a clear job—and making a fact-based decision when it no longer earns that role.
Watch the course preview
Stop treating every SKU as equally important.
The course shows how to compare item performance, retailer results, market performance, category roles, shopper needs, and available shelf space before recommending a change.
The three beliefs that weaken assortment decisions
A bigger line is not automatically a stronger line.
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“The lowest-ranked item should be removed.”
Rank is a starting point—not the decision. A small item may serve a unique shopper, trip mission, price point, format, or gateway role that the ranking report cannot see.
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“If an item performs in the market, it will perform here.”
Market performance creates a hypothesis. Retailer fit, shopper composition, economics, availability, shelf placement, and execution still determine the result.
What you will learn
Evaluate the assortment before you add—or cut—another item.
- Define the retailer and shopper role the assortment must serve
- Compare item performance in the account and relevant market
- Use the Pareto curve as a starting point—not the final answer
- Identify redundancy, gaps, and shopper-relevant differentiation
- Separate weak velocity from poor distribution or execution
- Evaluate whether an item adds incremental demand or transfers it
- Match a proposed addition with a fact-based replacement candidate
- Write a retailer-ready recommendation with risks and next steps
The practical decision
Every SKU should lead to one of four actions.
The decision is not always “keep” or “delete.” Sometimes the right move is to fix the execution, reposition the item, or run a controlled test.
ADD
A meaningful gap exists, the item has a clear role, the shopper fit is credible, and the economics and execution plan support the opportunity.
KEEP
The item has a distinct job, protects shopper choice, strengthens the category, or contributes value that rank alone does not reveal.
FIX
The item may be strategically right but underperforming because of availability, placement, price, promotion, communication, or execution.
REMOVE OR REPLACE
The item duplicates another SKU, lacks a defensible role, underperforms after context is considered, and a stronger use of the space exists.
Five lenses for a stronger recommendation
Rank tells you where to look. Context tells you what to do.
Shopper role
What need, mission, format, price point, or choice does the item serve?
Retail performance
How does it perform in this account, relevant market, and comparable retailers?
Economics
Does the item create profitable demand after trade, deductions, margin, and cost-to-serve?
Execution
Is weak performance caused by the item—or by distribution, placement, availability, or support?
The Kleenex pocket-pack lesson
A small pocket pack looked expendable when judged by volume alone. A deeper analysis revealed that it served an impulse and trial role and helped introduce shoppers to the broader facial-tissue franchise.
The lesson is not that every low-volume SKU should stay. The lesson is that the item’s job must be understood before the team removes it.
The quick win
Complete one Assortment Decision Brief.
Choose one live SKU decision at one retailer. Use the course to build a recommendation that another person can understand, challenge, and act on.
Your first assortment decision
1. Define the shopper and retailer objective
2. Compare account and market performance
3. Identify the SKU’s role
4. Test alternative explanations
5. Recommend add, keep, fix, or replace
What changes
Move from SKU defense to assortment leadership.
Before
- Every item feels emotionally important
- Rank becomes the entire decision
- New products are added without a replacement logic
- Velocity is diluted across too many similar items
- Retailer objections feel unpredictable
After
- Every SKU has a defined role
- Account, market, shopper, economics, and execution are read together
- Additions include a fact-based space recommendation
- Weak items are fixed, repositioned, tested, or replaced intentionally
- The retailer sees a category recommendation—not a brand plea
How I learned it and earned it
I learned assortment strategy from both sides of the retailer table.
My category-management work included building retailer-facing tools, comparing account and market performance, identifying assortment gaps, and helping teams decide which products deserved more—or less—space.
The strongest recommendations did not begin with “keep my SKU.” They began with the shopper, the category, the retailer’s objective, and the facts needed to make a better decision.
Your instructor
Daniel Lohman, CPSA
I have spent decades helping brands and retailers understand what is really driving category performance, where the assortment is creating friction, and how to make recommendations that protect shopper choice and profitable growth.
This course gives you a practical way to evaluate one real assortment decision now—and a repeatable framework you can apply across additional SKUs, retailers, categories, and channels.
Frequently asked questions
Still deciding?
Do I need syndicated data to use this course?
No. You can begin with retailer POS, distributor reports, shipment data, broker files, internal scorecards, or another consistent source. Better coverage and cleaner comparisons improve the recommendation.
Does every new item require one item to be discontinued?
Not always. Shelf resets, new fixtures, expanded facings, seasonal sets, online assortments, and other changes can create space. The useful discipline is to identify where the space will come from and what the new item changes in the existing assortment.
Should I automatically remove the lowest-selling SKU?
No. Rank is a screening tool. Before removing an item, evaluate its shopper role, profitability, distribution, availability, promotion, placement, incrementality, and relationship to the rest of the assortment.
What is the first quick win?
Choose one SKU at one retailer and complete an Assortment Decision Brief: define the item’s role, compare performance, test alternative explanations, and recommend add, keep, fix, or replace.
Does the course include an example tool?
The current course materials reference a downloadable efficient-assortment example. Confirm that the file is present and working inside the course before publishing this page.
What is the guarantee?
You have 14 days to review the course. If it does not give you practical ideas you can use to improve one real assortment decision, email Retail Solved and your purchase will be refunded.
One shelf. One clearer role.
Make the assortment work harder.
Stop protecting every item by default. Use one real decision to build a stronger, simpler, more defensible assortment.
Instant access • Regular price $297 • 14-day guarantee
