Keys to Product Management

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The economic principle I’m exploring is “Because of scarcity, people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How do retail / grocery stores choose which products to display /to stock during certain seasons or in general throughout their stores?” The article/video/etc published in Retail Management Software Blog titled “4 Essential Components of Product Management” demonstrates this economic principle because it shows that supermarkets need to manage their scarce goods & space by checking customer habits, making sure you have enough goods, and making sure you have good management of your stock clerks. 

First, a lot of retail is based on customer habits, sales history, and statistical reports of what customers have recently bought. To have a successful business, it is important to see what your customers like and to buy more of it. If you have an older crowd then it’s probably not in your best interest to buy something better suited for teenagers.

Second, after you buy your stock and order from your distributor, it’s obviously important to make sure all of your locations, or your one location, gets enough and not too much. It’s important to avoid buying too much, because that can easily create problems through overstock.

Third, having a good management of your stock can be crucial, obviously some products are sold at different paces compared to other products. An expensive high end brand of vanilla extract is obviously not going to go faster than a known name brand.

 In my next blog post I will research: What type of products is it important to purchase based on season, weather, and other factors.