Start narrow and deep rather than wide and thin. Six to ten SKUs across two or three price tiers, covering distinct jobs rather than variations of the same one. Prove rotation, then widen. Most first ranges fail from being too broad, not too small.
The instinct when opening a new category is to take a bit of everything, because you don't yet know what will sell.
It's the wrong instinct, and it's expensive. A wide shallow range means every line is under-stocked, nothing has enough facings to be noticed, and you can't tell what's working because nothing has had a fair chance.
Start with the jobs, not the products
Before looking at a catalogue, write down the jobs your customer actually comes in with. For a natural wellness set in Australian gift, pharmacy or tourism retail, that's usually:
- Something for dry lips
- Something for dry skin or hands
- A household or first-aid staple
- Something for oral care
- Something giftable and unmistakably Australian
- Something edible
Six jobs. One or two products each. That's your opening range, and it's how you avoid ending up with four lip balms and nothing for hands.
How many SKUs to open with
Six to ten. Enough to look like a category rather than an accident, few enough to stock properly.
The test: could you hold three or four facings of each without it looking sparse? If not, you have too many lines for the space.
Two lines with real depth outsell six lines with one unit each, every time. Depth signals confidence and stops the shelf reading as picked-over.
Price tiers
Three, and make them visible:
| Tier | Price | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Under $10 | Rotation and trial. Where new customers start |
| Core | $15–25 | Most of your margin dollars |
| Gift | $30–45 | Multipacks and sets. Basket-size lifter |
Most first ranges skip the entry tier because the margin percentage looks poor, then wonder why nobody tries the category. The cheap item is what converts the browser, and the customer who liked it comes back for the core one.
Sequencing: what to add and when
Month 1–3. The opening six to ten. Don't add anything. You're collecting data.
Month 3. First review. Rank by gross margin dollars per facing per month. You'll usually find one clear winner, one clear failure and a middle.
Month 4–6. Deepen the winner — more facings, more variants of the thing that worked. Delist the failure. Leave the middle alone.
Month 6+. Now widen. Add adjacent jobs, seasonal lines, gift sets. You're extending a proven category rather than guessing.
The discipline is in month 1–3. Adding lines because a rep visited is how ranges become unmanageable.
Variants: the trap
A supplier with four flavours of the same product will want you to take all four. Resist it on the first order.
Take the two that sell best elsewhere — ask them which, and if they don't know, that's informative. Add the others once the line is proven.
Four variants of one product in an opening range is four SKUs doing one job, when you needed six jobs covered.
What a good supplier does for a new category
Worth judging them on this, because it costs you nothing:
- Tells you which two lines to start with rather than pushing the full range
- Provides product content and images so you can list online quickly
- Sets minimums as order value rather than units per SKU
- Has a display option, even a simple counter tray
- Will swap slow stock while you're finding your feet
A supplier who will only sell the full range on units-per-SKU minimums is asking you to carry all the risk of a category neither of you has tested.
The one number to watch
Gross margin dollars per unit of space per month, per line. Rank the range by it monthly. It answers what to deepen, what to cut and whether the category is earning its space at all.
If the whole category is below what the space previously earned, that's worth knowing at month three rather than month eighteen.
OGA's range covers all six jobs above across seventeen products, with entry lines at $6.99, core lines to $24.99, and multipacks for the gift tier. Opening minimums are order-value based so a first range can be spread rather than forced deep on any one line.
Frequently asked
How many SKUs should I open a new category with? Six to ten, covering distinct customer jobs rather than variations of one. Enough to read as a category, few enough to stock with real depth.
Should I stock all variants of a product? Not on the first order. Take the two that perform best elsewhere and add the rest once the line is proven. Four variants of one product is four SKUs doing one job.
How long before I judge a new range? Three months, then rank by gross margin dollars per facing per month. Deepen the winner, cut the failure, leave the middle for another cycle.
Do I need a cheap entry product? It helps more than the margin percentage suggests. The under-$10 item is what gets a new customer to try the category, and trial is what feeds the core tier.
What minimum order structure is best for a new category? Order value rather than units per SKU. Units-per-SKU minimums force depth onto lines you're still testing, which is how a new range ends up overstocked on the wrong thing.
OGA supplies seventeen retail-ready products across paw paw, lip care, oral care, oils and macadamias, with order-value minimums. For the wholesale catalogue and price list, make an enquiry.
