Merchandise Survival - Productivity Bands

When you're evaluating the success of your merchandising team, be sure to create what I call "productivity bands".

For instance, you might band items as follows:

1. Annual Sales of $100,000 or Greater.
2. Annual Sales of $10,000 to $99,999.
3. Annual Sales of less than $10,000.

Then, measure the survival of items within each band.

1. $100,000+ Survival Probability = 88%.
2. $10,000 - $99,999 Survival Probability = 46%.
3. $1 - $9,999 Survival Probability = 23%.

You've got interesting information, now.

Ask your merchandising team why 12% of high-selling items were discontinued.

Ask your merchandising team why 23% of low-selling items were carried forward.