Merchandising: Choose Better Products With a Merchandising Strategy

* Develop written criteria for new products. Document the characteristics of all products in your last catalog. “Then, determine the attributes your best sellers have by assigning values to each criterion and creating a final selection critical checklist,” Muldoon recommends.

* Think about add-ons. “Using your best sellers as a guide, think about what products would work with [these items],” she writes. Look for products that complement what you have. But watch your merchandise mix, she cautions, as too many similar products will split sales rather than add to them.