Inventory glossary
What is Assortment planning?
Assortment planning is the process of deciding which products and variants a store should carry, in what depth, to match customer demand and budget.
For a small Shopify store, assortment planning keeps the catalog focused. Carrying too many colors or sizes of a slow seller ties up cash that could go toward a product customers actually want. Carrying too few options on a popular item means missed sales.
In practice this means reviewing sales by product and variant on a regular basis, cutting variants that rarely sell, and putting more budget behind the ones that sell well. It is a planning decision made before you place orders, not something you calculate from a single formula.
Example
A candle store sells a scent in three sizes: small, medium, large. Over three months, small sold 10 units, medium sold 90 units, and large sold 20 units. For the next order, the owner drops small to a minimal stock level, keeps large steady, and puts most of the new budget into medium, since it is clearly the size customers want.
Common mistakes
- Keeping every variant ever launched instead of trimming ones that do not sell.
- Adding new variants based on guesses rather than past sales data.
- Spreading budget evenly across all products instead of weighting it toward proven sellers.
Assortment planning and SteadyShelf
SteadyShelf forecasts sales per variant, which gives you the sales data you need to decide which variants to keep, cut, or expand when planning your assortment.
SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.
Related terms
SKU rationalization · ABC analysis · Demand forecasting · Core products · Long tail SKUs
FAQ
How is assortment planning different from demand forecasting?
Demand forecasting predicts how much of a given product will sell. Assortment planning uses that information, along with budget and shelf space, to decide which products and variants to carry at all.
How often should a small store revisit its assortment?
Most small stores review it quarterly or before each major reorder cycle, so slow variants get cut before more stock is committed to them.
Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU
Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.
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