Deciding what to stock
Choose a first range from what your street buys, and drop what does not sell.
6 min read
Whether you are about to open a shop or have been behind the counter for years, the range on your shelves is the biggest decision you make. Every item is a small bet: cash spent today on the hope that someone on your street wants it before it expires, fades or goes out of fashion. This lesson is about making those bets small, and learning from them quickly.
Start from your street, not from the distributor's list
A distributor will happily sell you everything they carry. Their list tells you what exists, not what your customers buy. Before you order, spend a few hours finding out:
- Who walks past. Office workers buy different things from families, students or construction workers. Stand outside at different times of day and count.
- What nearby shops sell out of. Ask shopkeepers who are not direct competitors what moves fastest. Notice what is stacked high and what is dusty.
- What people walk further for. A customer who goes two streets away for a particular brand of atta or a phone recharge is a customer you could keep.
Write down twenty items you are confident will sell every day. That is your core. Everything else is a test.
A core, a test shelf, and nothing else
| Part of the range | What goes in it | How much to buy |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Daily needs your street buys without thinking | Enough to never run out |
| Test shelf | Items customers asked for, or you think might work | The smallest quantity a supplier sells |
| Seasonal | Festival, school-term or weather items | Ordered for the season, cleared after |
The test shelf is where you learn. Put a new item on it, give it a fixed time — a few weeks — and then decide: move it to the core, keep testing, or clear it at cost.
The commonest mistake in a new shop is filling every shelf on day one to look well stocked. Full shelves of slow items are your opening cash, frozen. A smaller range that is always in stock looks better to a regular than a big one with gaps.
Listen to the requests book
Keep a notebook at the counter. Every time someone asks for something you do not have, write it down. After a month, the items asked for three or four times by different people go on the test shelf. One request is a person; several is a pattern.
Drop what does not sell
Once a month, walk the shelves and look for items that have not moved. For each one, ask: would I order this again today? If not, put it near the counter at a lower price, bundle it with a fast seller, or return it if your supplier allows. The cash you get back buys more of what does sell.
The stock lesson in Running it month to month covers reorder levels and how much to order; this lesson is about what deserves a place in the first place.
A made-up example: a new general store tests five brands of biscuits. After four weeks, two sell daily, one sells weekly and two have barely moved. Keep the two, hold a little of the third, and clear the last two. Next month, test a different snack in their space.
Margin matters as much as speed
A fast seller with almost no margin keeps customers coming but barely pays the rent. A slower item with a healthy margin may earn you more per shelf. Know both for your top items: how fast it sells, and what is left from each sale. The best shelf space goes to items that do well on both.
Use the tool below to test what your area buys before you stock it — describe your street and the shop you have in mind.