ASSORTMENT GUIDELINES

Product Assortment: An Understanding and Benefits

Product assortment is the different types of products a retailer offers for sale to customer.

Product Assortment = L X B X D and Adjacency of Products

L = Number of Products

B = Number of Product Lines

D = Number of Product Varieties within a product line

Key Benefits of Assortment Management

1. Sales Growth : By Narrowing down the assortment gaps and arresting the sale loss due to the gaps
2. Improve Inventory Turns by increasing the sale
3. Role Clarity of different stake holders
4. Customer retention by improving the range, availability and hence trust
5. Better Inventory planning by applying advanced forecasting tools
6. It will help in streamlining the Auto Replenishment System
 9 Levels of Assortment Hierarchy in FRL for Big and Small Formats

Hierarchy ( Nos) Description

Department (4) FMCG Processed Food (PF)
Sub Department (17) Ready To Eat
Class (27) Biscuits
Sub Class (86) Biscuits
MC (342) Cookies
Product (1148) Butter & Nut Cookies
Brand Name (1348) Good Day
Brand Co Name (1065) Britannia Industries Ltd.
Article description (32193) Britannia Biscuit Good Day Nuts PP 200g
 A Snapshot of Geographical Hierarchy of Food in Big Format at PAN Level

✓ 9 Zones (AP& TS, East, NCR, North, Mumbai, Kar,TN & Ker, ROM, West)

✓ 24 Assortment Clusters (Ex : East UP, West UP, MP, Punjab, Haryana) – To Details

✓ 261 BB Stores + 17 Hyper City Stores = 278 Stores

*Assortment Cluster is the Geographical building block of Assortment Management

AP & TS (18) East (68) Mumbai (18) NCR (22) North (43) South
(30) South (22) ROM (18) West (23)

• AP (18) • Bihar (7) • Mumbai • NCR (22) • East UP (13) • Bangmys • Kerala • Maharashtr • Gujarat
• Chhattisgarh (8) (18) • Haryana (3) (20) (10) a (18) (12)
• Jharkhand (8) • MP (8) • ROK • TN (12) • Rajastha
• Punjab (14) (10) n (11)
• Kolkata (17)
• Nagpur (3) • West UP (4)
• North Bengal (3)
• North East (5)
• Orissa (10)
• South Bengal (7)
 APPROACH TOWARDS ASSORTMENT MANAGEMENT

✓ Collaboration with National and Regional Category team of Big and Small Formats

✓ Defining the Brand Role and Assortment Role of each SKUs of the Universal set of assortment

✓ Zone wise Basic Data preparation at Store and Article level for all assortment clusters of L3M/13 weeks/91 Days

✓ Mapping of SKU Assortment roles

✓ Mapping of active Selling Stores Count of L3M/13 Weeks/91 days

✓ Mapping of ARS/ITST Stores Count

✓ Mapping of Avg. Availability trend of L4 weeks

✓ Post Basic Data preparation the Work Sheet to be shared with FRHO Category and the Regional Category team

✓ Both the teams will share their insights in to the master work sheet to give the final shape to the assortment

✓ This is a periodical activity and will be done once in a quarter initially and later on to be done on a monthly cycle
 Three perspectives of Assortment Role
Assortment is being classified in three parts : Every SKU has a different
role to play at various levels

National Regional
Store Perspective
Perspective Perspective

• National Core • National Core • National Core

• Regional Brand • Regional Core • Regional Core
• Regional Variant • Local • Local
• Regional Pack • Premium • In & Out
• Premium • In & Out
• Limited Distribution
• In & Out

* Local Assortment is not under purview of the National perspective

 Types of Product Assortment or SKU Role
1. National Core: Nationally top Selling SKUs. In all the PAN Location stores irrespective of store types. SKU Present across

India, PAN India Distribution, Own Brands and Strategic Brands

2. Regional Core: Regionally Top Selling SKUs, In All Stores of an Assortment Cluster irrespective of store types

3. Premium : High Price Points and Low Penetration. To be Placed only in Premium Stores

4. Limited Distribution: National Brands which do not have PAN India Distribution i.e. Dairy/Frozen. Its Local in Nature

5. In & Out Assortment: Entry and Exit Dates of the assortments are defined. Seasonal SKUs, Gift Packs, OPP

6. Local Assortments: Meant to cater a micro catchment or select stores of an assortment cluster
Point 7,8,9 are applicable
7. Regional brands: Presence in select region/regions only in case of National
perspective. From
8. Regional Variant: Only in Select assortment clusters and or in stores of an assortment clusters regional perspective it
will be either Regional
Core/Local / In & Out
9. Regional Pack: Distinguished pack size available in select region/regions
National Core SKUs:

✓ Top contributing SKUs at National Level (70% Approx)

✓ To be sold in PAN stores

✓ PAN India Distribution network or availability to cater Universal set of stores of FG

✓ Articles which are being Sold Nationally In all market

✓ SKUs which are not sold nationally but within the organisation – Own Brand

✓ FRHO Category Managers are the Assortment Guardian of National Core

assortment
Limited Distribution Assortment
✓ Lack of PAN Distribution network
✓ Needs controlled condition Supply Chain (All
Frozen & Dairy Items)
✓ Dominance of Local Player e.g Local Milk Co-
operatives
✓ These Range of Products can be placed in All
Stores of the assortment cluster
IN & Out : (OP, Seasonal, Gift Packs)
✓ Has got a defined incubation period of the product
whose entry and exit dates are defined
✓ Demand spikes during specific period of the year or
during festivals
✓ Timelines should be decided based upon past trends
for strategic introduction & exit.
✓ Eg. Chyawanprash, Petroleum Jelly during Winters,
Prickly Heat Talcum Powders, Energy Drinks during
Summers
✓ In & Out Set of SKUs are of following types
❖ Big Days (26th Jan and 15th Aug)
❖ Seasonal Assortment (Winter & Summer)
❖ Gifting Assortment (Diwali, Holi, Raksha
Bandhan etc)
❖ Festival Assortment (National Festival ( Diwali,
Holi, Durga Pooja, Ramzaan), Regional festival
(Vaisakhi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Pongal,
Navroz), sociocultural festival, Valentine Day,
Childrens Day, Mothers day and Teachers day)
❖ Brand driven promotional (New Launches,
special drives)
Premium Assortment
✓ High Perceived Value
✓ High Pricing Points
✓ Global / Imported Products
✓ Comparatively low penetration and low stock turns
✓ These Range of Products to be placed in select premium
catchment stores i.e. Gennex, A+
✓ Premium Range of Products is of two types
❖ Exotic Premium
❖ Domestic Premium
Regional Brand
✓ Regional Brand is a Regional Assortment Decision
✓ Top contributing SKUs at Regional Level
✓ Brand which has presence in one ore more than one
regions however not present nationally are grouped
under this SKU Role
Regional Variant
✓ The Variant which is specially designed to cater specific
requirements of a region.
✓ Taste, Flavour, Aroma belief and preference of customer
✓ Eg. MTR Pongal Mix
Regional Pack
✓ The Regional Pack consists of articles whose quantity is
specifically designed other than the standard Pack Size,
to cater the regional needs
✓ Introduced based upon the buying patterns of the
consumer
✓ S&M Heads are Assortment Guardians of Regional Core
Assortments
eg. 1 Litre Shampoo, Coke 300 ml and 330 ml, 2L CSDs
 Snapshot of EUP –FMCG Post assortment Exercise
Post Assortment Exercise Pre- Assortment Exercise
EAST UP Assortment Counts Store Area 1. National Core 2. Regional Core 1. National Core 2. Regional Core
BB-LUCKNOW-PHOENIX MALL 9471 3877 352 3627 310
BB-LUCKNOW-SAHARA MALL 10009 3877 352 3609 313
BB-KANPUR-Z SQUARE MALL-M G RO 8356 3877 352 3601 310
BB-LUCKNOW-RIVERSIDE MALL 9912 3877 352 3610 298
BB-VARANASI-IP GRAND 10937 3877 352 3575 310
BB-LUCKNOW-SHALIMAR ELDEE PLAZ 10061 3877 352 3604 304
BB-KANPUR-ANCHOR STORE 8669 3877 352 3564 300
BB-KANPUR-KIDWAI NAGAR 13247 3877 352 3582 298
BB-VARANASI-ORDELY MALL 9752 3877 352 3545 298
BB-LUCKNOW-SINGAPORE MALL 5355 3877 352 3560 291
BB-ALLAHABAD-CIVIL LINE 6593 3877 352 3501 299
BB-GORAKHPUR-AIRPORT ROAD 9105 3877 352 3495 278
BB-MUGHAL SARAI-IP MUGHAL MALL 5800 3877 352 3408 274
East UP Total 50401 4576 46281 3883