Assortment

An assortment is the set of products a retailer, a channel, or a specific store chooses to carry, basically which SKUs make the cut and which do not. In FMCG, it is one of the biggest growth levers because if you are not in the store, you are not in the basket.

Also known as: range, product range, SKU range

What assortment means

Assortment is the answer to a simple question, what should be on this shelf, in this fridge, or behind this bar. It is the list of SKUs that are “in” for a retailer, a banner, an account, or even one store.

It differs by retailer because each retailer has a different customer promise and different economics. A discounter will bias toward fewer, faster moving SKUs and sharp price points, a premium supermarket can afford more variety and more niche items.

It also differs by store format because space and mission change everything. A convenience store near a metro stop needs grab and go packs, a hypermarket can carry family sizes and more flavors, a small city store might drop slow movers even if the chain carries them elsewhere.

What shapes an assortment decision

• shopper needs

• store format and space

• price points and pack sizes

• seasonality

• retailer strategy

• supply and logistics

• performance of existing SKUs

Assortment vs listing

Assortment is the plan, what you think should be in the range for that channel or customer. It is the “should”, built from shopper reality, space reality, and what you can actually supply.

Listing is the retailer decision that makes it real, including the commercial agreement, the timing, and the practical details. You can propose an assortment all day, but nothing happens until the SKUs are listed (and later, sometimes delisted).

Assortment by channel

In retail and off-trade, assortment is mostly a shelf and fridge game. Packs need to fit a self serve shopping trip, pricing ladders matter, and there is usually a strong push to simplify because every extra SKU steals space from something else.

In HoReCa and on-trade, assortment is a menu and workflow game. A bar wants SKUs that earn their keep in speed, consistency, and margin, a restaurant might accept a narrower range if it supports their concept, and “format” often means keg vs bottle, single serve vs multipack.

In travel retail, assortment is a mix of shopper mission and logistics constraints. You see more gifting, more premium, more travel friendly formats, and a tighter focus on what works across many nationalities in the same corridor, with supply and compliance doing a lot of the steering.

A simple example

A KAM is building an account plan for a grocery chain that has both large supermarkets and smaller city stores. They start by defining a core range that should be present everywhere, the everyday best sellers that drive most of the volume.

Then they add a seasonal layer, for example summer flavors, holiday packs, or limited editions that the retailer wants for a campaign window. They discuss with the buyer which SKUs the chain is willing to list and when those changes can go live.

They also agree which items should be removed to make space, because the shelf is not elastic. After the agreement, the KAM updates the customer facing story and the assortment proposal material so it matches the new reality.

Trade marketing aligns any point of sale materials with the final range so the visuals and the products in store do not contradict each other.

Finally, the field team gets a simple brief, what is in, what is out, what to push by store format, and what to do if a store has not implemented the change yet.

Common mistakes

• Carrying too many SKUs, which looks impressive on a slide but turns into slow movers, messy shelves, and hard choices at the store.

• Pushing the wrong packs for the channel, like multipacks in on-trade or single serves where shoppers mainly stock up for home.

• Ignoring shelf space reality, assuming the retailer will “find room” even though every new SKU needs a real slot and usually a real deletion.

• Not updating materials after changes, so the deck, sell sheets, and field guidance still talk about products that are no longer listed.

• Treating all retailers the same, recycling one range proposal even though strategy, space, shoppers, and execution discipline vary massively by account.