Product

Roles

Products are not all the same. An obvious assertion, but do you treat them all the same when it comes
to planning your assortment?
Each item – or group of items – you purchase and carry needs consideration in terms of:
• Breadth – how wide a range do you offer
• Depth – how many options you offer
• Purchase depth – how deeply you invest in the items you carry
• Product lifespan/selling life – how long you want it to live in your
assortment
• Pricing strategy – how you are pricing vs. competitors and if you are
planning for every day low price (EDLP) or a high-low pricing to allow for promotional discounts
• Merchandising/visual presentation strategy – how you will present the product offering to the
customer
• Marketing strategy – how you will use marketing to attract or educate customers about your
product
You may find that you have done this intuitively, but the process of defining Product Roles more
formally can help you plan your assortment – and make these decisions – with more confidence.
In this course, we define the following Product Roles:
• Destination
• Routine / Core/ Traffic Driving
• Seasonal / Occasional
• Complementary
• Convenience / Impulse
We also discuss the impact of these Roles on your purchase, pricing, marketing and merchandising
decisions.
Keep in mind that you may have seen or used different terminology for these
classifications at the companies you have worked at. The specific terms are not
critical; what matters is the underlying definition of each and making decisions
based on what the intended role in your assortment is.
Also keep in mind that while your company as a whole is likely to have products
and/or categories of product that fall into each Role type, your specific business
may only encompass a few.
However, you should still be wary of assuming that everything you carry falls under a single Product
Role. Even a narrowly defined, typically Seasonal/Occasional product category may still have a few items
you would consider – and want to treat as – Destination, Complementary and/or Convenience.
Consider this example:

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 Let’s say you’re the Women’s Sweaters buyer at a department store. For
the most part you consider your assortment to be seasonal with distinct
differences in weight and styling in what you carry in different seasons.
However, during the Winter season, you want to be a Destination for
Cashmere, so you treat that sub-group of product differently. And you also
have special occasion items that are only offered – or are featured – for specific holidays. And finally,
you may offer complementary or convenience items to round out the assortment.
Now let’s consider each potential Product Role – how you define it, what some examples are and how
this role will impact your product, pricing, marketing and merchandising decisions.

Destination
To be a Destination category or product means you have a
leadership role in the market. It communicates your
commitment to meeting a specific need of your customer and
deliver superior value.
It is often tied to your image in the customer’s mind and is
intended to drive both new and existing customers to visit your
stores or digital channels.
When a customer thinks about your company, you want or
expect the Destination products (categories, sub-categories or
individual items) to be the first thing that comes to mind.
Similarly, when they think about these products, you want your
company to be the first retailer they think of!
What are some examples of Destination categories in your market? Consider some of these:
• Denim jeans – Levi’s or The Gap
• Storage containers – The Container Store
• Cosmetics – Sephora
• Outerwear - Burberry
If a category is a Destination, you want to carry a broad, complete range. In other words, you can’t be a
destination for outerwear if you only carry three styles and they are all wool. Further, you can’t be a
Destination if you are constantly out-of-stock – if you disappoint your customer she is less likely to
return to you for an item in this category again.
When it comes to your price strategy and positioning, a Destination should offer great value, but not
necessarily the lowest price. You want to be priced competitively, of course, but you may want to
expend some effort on educating your customer on the quality / value combination rather than focusing
on just being the lowest price on the market.

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 Finally, when it comes to your store placement and visual
merchandising decisions, remember that unless you are still trying to
establish a Destination image in the market, this product does not
always have to be front and forward – customers already understand
this is what you stand for and they will come find the assortment you
have laid out for them.

Routine / Core/ Traffic Driving

A Routine, core or traffic driving category or
product will drive traffic to your store or site
because it is something that a customer needs and
re-purchases frequently.

The most obvious examples of this are consumables – because by definition you use
and need to replace! Think food, gasoline, detergent and so on.
Outside the grocery or fast-moving consumer goods world it can be challenging to
find a truly routine and/or traffic driving product, but they may exist in your
business and you should be able to identify these items if they do.
If you do have product playing this role, these are some of the impacts on your
business decisions:
• You may want to carry a broad range with many options – but that will depend on the
competitiveness of your market
• You definitely want to carry purchase depth, however – you want to avoid out-of-stocks!
• You want to price competitively, potentially with the ability to discount or promote on occasion.
You may also be willing to let these items be a loss leader if you are confident that the
customers that come to you to buy this will pick up other items on their visit.

Seasonal / Occasional
Seasonal or Occasional product usually refers to categories or
specific items that are event-driven – for example for
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or so on.
In some cases, the seasonal and/or occasional product will become a Destination for that brief period of
time.
Some examples of seasonal/occasional products include:
• Backpacks (for Back to School)
• Flowers and chocolate (for Valentine’s Day)
• Costumes (for Halloween)
• Wallets (for Father’s Day)
Product that is seasonal/ occasional may be bought only for that event, or it may
be carried at all times, but featured as an event-specific purchase at key times. An example of this might
be jewelry which is part of the “regular” assortment, but then featured during Valentine’s Day.

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These products can be an opportunity for higher margin – though that will depend on the level of
competitive activity. You are certainly under pressure to clear through items that do not have a regular
home in your ongoing assortment before the event period ends.
These categories and products also tend to get heavier marketing – with or without discounting – and
featured placement in either your stores or digital channels.

Complementary
Complementary product supports the sales of other
products. One way to think about these items as they
are the “accessories” to go with the main purchase.
Examples of this include shoe care items
in a shoe store or batteries in an electronics store.
For the most part, you want to keep your assortment fairly narrow and focused for
complementary items. And you are often looking to earn margin here, so you want to price
accordingly.
When it comes to both marketing and merchandising, there are opportunities for bundling and cross-
merchandising with the “main” purchase.

Convenience / Impulse
As “impulse” implies – these are unplanned purchases.
Grocery stores pioneered this concept when they put soda,
water and candy at the cash registers, and now many
retailers have capitalized on the sales and margin opportunities of impulse items.
Sephora’s Beauty on the Go is a great example of this. And think of all the products laid out “for your
convenience” as you wait to make your purchase at nearly every retailer you visit.
As with complementary items, you will not typically carry a broad range or multiple options, but instead
focus on a limited number of SKUs in this grouping. You are also likely to price to maximize margin and
do very little discounting or promotions on this product.
And as already mentioned – space around the cash wrap (or suggested
as you start the online checkout process) is the go-to location for these
items.

Wrap Up
Identifying the Role you want each part of your assortment to play can help you evaluate how well your
assortment is meeting your goals and what you can do differently to build a more effective product
range.
The rules are not hard and fast, and individual item Roles may shift over time, but using this framework
can help you make the right decisions on breadth, depth, purchase quantity, pricing, marketing and
merchandising – and ensure you are not treating all products in the same way.

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