The product range is all the products that your company produces. The assortment can also be called all the products that are offered on the market in the niche you are interested in. If you sew beautiful ethnic-style women's bags and sell them in the city where you live, all the women's bags that are offered in the stores of your city will be the product range you are interested in.
The important characteristics of the assortment are its width and depth. Assortment width is the number of different product lines that a company produces. For example, a company that manufactures backpacks may only develop and sell backpacks, or may have several product lines: travel backpacks, backpacks for schoolchildren, bags and backpacks for preschoolers, bags for sports shoes. Suppose this company also sells related products and offers clients office supplies, sports and tourism products. All this is the breadth of the assortment.
The second indicator is the depth of the assortment. This is where marketers consider the number of product variations in a product line. So, our manufacturer of backpacks can develop several tourist models for men and women and many options for school backpacks for boys and girls, with orthopedic back support and without it, for schoolchildren of different ages, with different patterns … the number of backpack models can reach several dozen per one product line - this will be an indicator of depth.
When working with assortment, it is very important to understand and skillfully use assortment strategies. Let's consider them in more detail.
If we work with assortment depth, we can deepen the assortment by adding our own products, or reduce the assortment by excluding products from the line. Deepening the assortment is adding a product in the same category or adding additional variants of the same model. If you only sewed black and blue backpacks, and now offer the same backpack in green, this is the deepening of the assortment. Another example of deepening the assortment is expanding the size range of clothes, adding sizes for women with small stature, or for very tall people.
On the other hand, a reduction in the assortment means a decrease in such options: a dress that was previously produced in three colors is now available in only one. This is how a company can manage its product range.
When working with the depth of the assortment, the company can maintain the assortment by supporting the brand, or narrow it, excluding certain positions from their assortment. Brand support is the addition of other products to an already successful brand. For example, a dairy producer might start producing yoghurts and sour cream under the same brand name, making the packaging recognizable while keeping the same name. A narrowing of the assortment is a reduction in the varieties of goods in related categories. For example, a backpack company decided to discontinue women's backpacks and focus on other niches. A narrowing of the range occurs if some products bring significantly less profit than other varieties.
The ability to properly work with the assortment will help you get the most profit from the products that your company manufactures.
