SKU Rationalization
SKU rationalization prunes the catalog on evidence, making every product and variant pay rent.
What SKU rationalization is
SKU rationalization is pruning the catalog on evidence: reviewing every product and variant against its sales, margin, and costs, then cutting, merging, or fixing the ones that fail to earn their place.
Why SKU rationalization matters
Catalogs bloat by default: launches accumulate, variants multiply, and nobody’s job is deletion. Every underperforming SKU quietly bills the business, inventory dollars, storage, forecasting error, photography, page maintenance, and buyer attention split across choices that convert nobody. Rationalization is the head’s discipline of making the catalog pay rent.
Running a rationalization
- Rank SKUs by contribution and velocity: the tail reveals itself
- Check the role before cutting: some slow SKUs feed heroes or retention
- Decide per SKU: kill, merge variants, fix the page, or reprice
- Exit deliberately: sell down, mark down, and redirect the URLs
Frequently asked questions
How often should catalogs be rationalized?
On a seasonal or annual cadence, plus before peak: entering the busiest quarter carrying known losers wastes the year’s best traffic. The review is calendar work, not a crisis response.
What does review data add to SKU decisions?
The why behind the numbers: a slow seller with strong reviews has a visibility problem worth fixing; one with weak reviews has a product problem worth exiting. Sales data nominates the candidates, review data sentences them.