Assortment planning: review of literature and industry practice

Abstract

A retailer’s assortment is defined by the set of products carried in each store at each point in time. The goal of assortment planning is to specify an assortment that maximizes sales or gross margin subject to various constraints, such as a limited budget for purchase of products, limited shelf space for displaying products, and a variety of miscellaneous constraints such as a desire to have at least two vendors for each type of product.