Product range breadth and depth

The assortment available in a warehouse and in retail is divided into the assortment dimensions of assortment width and assortment depth. The assortment width describes the range of different goods, the assortment depth the variety of individual product groups.

If a warehouse/distribution center or retailer stocks clothing, food, electrical goods and cosmetics, for example, the assortment dimension is wide. Department stores and discounters usually have such a wide assortment.

Assortment depth and assortment width in retail

When warehouses and retailers have a product group in different variations, it is referred to as a narrow assortment. The best examples of this are a bakery or a fish shop. The many different types of bread or fish make the assortment a narrow one. In addition, there is not only cod, salmon and perch, but also smoked, pickled, Norwegian, Canadian, large and small cod.

Generally speaking, a store with a wide range of products does not offer too much of anything. By contrast, a specialist retailer that focuses on particular product groups does not offer too much of everything.

Nowadays, however, this has become more similar in many areas. For example, you often no longer find only a small range of fish in a fish shop. Rather, you can also find bread, salad, oil and other Mediterranean goods there. Likewise, many department stores and discounters offer a certain range of products. So you can not only buy cheap white wine there, but the customer can also choose from high-quality and internationally known white wines.

Extended definitions

In the commercial sector, the terms “narrow range” are also used for specialist and specialty stores that, for example, only sell men’s suits or children’s shoes, and “flat range” for stores that sell a variety of goods, but only a few of each. At this point, a street kiosk is to be mentioned, for example. It sells tobacco products, magazines and sweets; however, only in small quantities.

Assortment dimension in intralogistics

If you project the assortment width onto intralogistics, this means a high picking effort for a warehouse. Therefore, an attempt is made to control the assortment width within a warehouse via production logistics.

For more information on designing the product range, see inventory management.

 

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