Are you making these range review mistakes? 🙈
Are you making these common range review mistakes?
The purpose of a range review is to allow retailers to reshuffle their product space and the products in their range. It is also a category manager’s only opportunity to influence shelf space, get listings and prevent delists.
That opportunity only comes around once or twice a year.
But I see the same mistakes pop up time and time again.
I've made most of these mistakes myself, not through carelessness, just from rushing past the unglamorous bits to get to the “real” work.
Here are five I see all the time, and how to avoid them.
1. Rushing to analysis
This is the one I got wrong most often early on, diving into analysis before working out what we were actually trying to achieve.
Sometimes the buyer already knows, they just need a conversation to draw it out. Other times they don't, and it's on you to shape a recommendation on the objective itself. Bring in new shoppers? Close a gap on a competitor? Grow an underperforming segment?
While you're at it, ask about timings too. Every range review runs to a different clock, depending on the category, the time of year, and how many other reviews the merchandiser's juggling. There's no standard timeline. Ask early, save yourself the guesswork later.
2. SKUs before space and layout
It’s called a range review, so it's tempting to jump straight to the range analysis, tail products, distribution gaps, without stepping back first.
I did this myself more than once, only to redo the SKU work when I realised the fixture layout needed to change first.
Before the detail, ask what changes are needed to layout and space allocation. Get that right first, because it changes everything you recommend at SKU level afterwards. Skip this step and you'll end up doing the work twice, trust me.
3. Focusing on the wrong plan sizes
Planograms are brilliant, complicated things. Your category might run to 5, 8 or 23 different plan sizes, and it's easy to lose hours agonising over one, only to discover afterwards it covers 5 stores. I've done exactly that.
As soon as you get the planograms, find out how many stores each one covers. Then focus your time on the ones that matter most. Obvious once someone's told you, less obvious when you're staring down 23 planograms with no idea where to start.
4. Misunderstanding how people shop your category
I've worked with so many buyers who want to rip up the whole fixture and start fresh, only for shoppers to end up confused. They are unable to find what they want and leave the aisle empty-handed.
Most categories are laid out the way they are for a reason. Get to know how shoppers actually shop and navigate first.
The shopper decision hierarchy helps, it shows which products shoppers see as substitutable. But it's not a merchandising bible on its own. How people shop and how they navigate aren't always the same thing, so you need to understand both.
5. Underestimating the merchandiser's role
Buyers get the credit, but merchandisers usually make the final call on the detail, what actually lands on the planogram, how much space each brand gets.
Miss that relationship, and it's costly, I've seen a supplier lose 5 SKUs on a planogram covering 200 stores because of it.
When you speak to your buyer, understand who does what. Retailers have also introduced newer roles like Category Planners and Range Analysts, and a lot depends on their individual relationships and ways of working.
Buyers will have a view, but build the relationship with the other decision makers too. It could be the difference between your recommendation landing or quietly disappearing.
The takeaway
The pattern behind all five?
Slow down before the detail. Most range review mistakes happen in the bits that feel safe to rush past.
Made any of these yourself, or spotted others I've missed? I'd love to hear about it, just reply to this email.
Weeks 5 & 6 of our Category Management Bootcamp cover even more tips and tricks to understand the range review process and how to influence those decisions.
Starting Thursday 3rd September 2026, running weekly online from 10am to 12pm. Every week we delve into a different topic, all to make you the best category manager you can be!
Got questions about whether it's right for you or your team? Just get in touch, I'm always happy to chat it through.
August 2026