Product mix

What is Product mix?

A product mix is the planned composition of an offer: which categories, styles, and variants enter, for which channel, and in which period. In fashion retail, assortment planning organizes seasonal styles and allocates them to stores and other sales channels. Therefore, a collection map should not be confused with the commercial decision that turns a collection into an offer.

The decision unit must be explicit. Category answers “which family enters?”; style answers “which concrete proposition?”; SKU or variant answers “in which color and size will it be offered?” A merchandise plan works at category level, while a fashion assortment goes down to products and styles. This distinction keeps a category budget from being mistaken for a final product list.

How do breadth and depth change the mix?

Breadth is the variety of products sold; depth is the number of variations, such as sizes and colors, available for each product. In decision terms, breadth opens more families or propositions, while depth concentrates options within each family. Assortment depth refers to the variation offered within it; a retail example combines brands, colors, and sizes for a category.

The choice between broadening and deepening should be made by scope, not abstract preference. Record the category, style, colors, size range, channel, and selling window on the same plan row. A category with many propositions may need fewer variants per proposition; a central proposition may justify more colors or sizes. This is a process-design rule, not a universal promise of performance.

The mix is easier to read when the line plan shows the set and the product record shows the variant. Do not count “styles” and “colors” as if they were the same thing: breadth answers the width of the set; depth answers the choice within each item.

How do you connect the mix to demand and buying?

A forecast uses historical information as an input to demand planning. It can feed a mix hypothesis, but it does not by itself decide which styles will be developed. To review the hypothesis, compare each product or category’s sell-through rate at the same point in the previous year; read the signal with the declared period, channel, and category.

Budget enters as both constraint and buying mechanism. An open-to-buy calculation uses sales forecasts, opening stock levels, and desired closing stock levels. Its result can be separated into departments or categories to guide orders and arrival intervals. OTB therefore answers how much can still be bought; the mix answers what occupies that space.

Stock visibility covers timing, quantity, and storage decisions. Record committed receipts, units available, and the reading date before concluding that a category should grow or shrink. A sales signal without its context can change the mix for the wrong reason.

How should a mix be reviewed without losing context?

Use a table by channel and period with category, style, variant, planned quantity, committed buying, available stock, and the reading indicator. Mark demand hypothesis, product decision, and buying commitment separately. The team can then review the offer architecture first, depth second, and buying balance last.

The mix should also connect to price architecture, demand planning, and sell-through. These relationships do not replace period data; they make clear where the decision can be explained, revised, or discontinued. The process is complete when another person can reconstruct why a category received that breadth and depth, rather than seeing only the total bought.