The Assortment Paradox

More choice does not always mean more sales. Research consistently shows that excessive assortment creates decision fatigue and reduces purchase rates. The art of assortment planning is finding the optimal balance between enough variety to serve different customer needs and enough focus to make each product productive.

Building an Assortment Architecture

Start with structure before selecting individual products:

"You are a category management expert. Help me build an assortment architecture for the [category] in a [store type] retailer. Define: the role of this category (destination, routine, convenience, or seasonal), the decision tree customers use to shop the category (what do they decide first — brand, price, size, flavor?), the segments and sub-segments needed, target SKU count per segment, and the good/better/best price tier structure. Base the architecture on how customers actually shop, not how the industry traditionally organizes."