Valentine's Day: A Category Comet

Tomorrow I'll share a bit more about Stars / Planets / Moons / Comets / Asteroids and how the concepts fit into a Category Solar System.

Valentine's Day is an interesting concept. Some brands specialize in gifts for different occasions. If you have a category called "Flowers", you probably spread out purchases across several occasions, and you have a Planet.

But if you have a category called "Valentine's Day Flowers", well, now you have a Comet. The customer only needs this product once-a-year. And if you cannot convince the customer to purchase anything else during the year, then the category becomes a Comet ... and kind of hurts your brand.

You want customers who have reasons to purchase four times a year ... and if categories work against this goal, the category might still be viable (i.e. highly profitable).

Or, the category might not belong in your assortment.

P.S.: This is where somebody should be asking a question ... "What if our category hierarchy is flawed? Shouldn't the analyst fit the assortment together based on the products that tend to sell together at certain times of the year?" Yes, somebody should be asking that question!