Draw Up Your Brand’s Road Map

“It doesn’t matter how a product is priced, positioned, merchandised, marketed or sold if the fit is incorrect,” points out Patagonia Director of Merchandising Kevin Churchill. “It’s an issue we’re constantly working toward improving.”

Product fit charts make merchandising more brand- and customer-centered. Jerry Knoll, a merchandising consultant with religious materials cataloger Abbey Press, says that by using product fit charts as a matrix for gift creation or discovery, “you get a strategic view of the overall plan. It’s a high-level look at the product-for-consumer connection,” he notes. “And this somewhat abstract point of view can lead to more insightful and on-target product discoveries.”