Decision #3: Which Products Really Make Sense Together?
In Decision #1, we asked:
Who are we willing to build this brand for?
n Decision #2, we asked:
What should this brand mean beyond the products?
Now it's time to ask another question.
Which products actually belong together?
The answer isn't always as obvious as it seems.
Products are often added because they sell, because customers ask for them, or because a retailer sees an opportunity.
Each decision can make sense on its own.
But over time, those decisions can pull a brand in very different directions.
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As product companies grow, they often organize their products in ways that make perfect sense internally.
They're grouped by supplier.
By material.
By collection.
By manufacturing process.
Sometimes simply by who developed them.
Customers don't think that way.
They organize products around the problem they're solving, the project they're working on, or the life they're wanting to create.
Those two ways of organizing rarely align, creating a brand that becomes hard to shop.
The Customer is Building Something, Not Buying Categories
One of the lessons I learned while leading product development in the jewelry-making industry was that customers weren't shopping for individual components.
They were building something.
Sometimes it was a gift for a friend. Sometimes it was a piece inspired by a style they loved but couldn't justify buying. Whatever brought them to the jewelry-making section, they weren't thinking about product categories.
They were thinking about the finished piece they wanted to create.
That meant our assortments couldn't be developed one product at a time.
The best assortments don't just offer more choices. They make the next choice obvious.
If we introduced a new antique gold pendant, the customer expected to find matching charms, chain, bracelet blanks, jump rings, clasps, and beads in the same finish. The colors needed to coordinate. The metal finishes needed to match. Every piece had to feel like it belonged with the others so they could build with confidence.
To us, those were different product categories.
To the customer, they were all part of the same project.
That's the difference.
Customers don't organize products the way companies do.
They organize them around what they're trying to accomplish.
Great assortments remove the friction of decision-making for the customer. They make it obvious what belongs together.
From the Buyer's Side of the Table
When I met with retail buyers, we rarely talked about a single SKU in isolation.
The conversation was about the collection.
How would it look on an endcap? Could it support a seasonal trend? If it performed well, which pieces would eventually move into the everyday assortment?
The best collections were designed with that progression in mind.
In jewelry making, that meant every pendant, charm, chain, finding, bracelet blank, and bead worked together through coordinated finishes and color palettes. Customers could mix and match with confidence, while retailers could evolve the assortment over time without breaking the story.
That's what buyers are really investing in.
Not just products.
A collection that can grow into a category.
Customers don't organize products the way companies do. They organize them around what they're trying to accomplish.
Why this gets harder as companies grow
Growth creates options.
More suppliers.
More categories.
More customer requests.
More opportunities.
Every new product can seem like another chance to grow.
But unless each new addition strengthens the collection, the assortment slowly becomes harder to shop.
Customers have to work harder to understand what belongs together.
Retailers have to work harder to merchandise it.
And the brand slowly loses the clarity that made it appealing in the first place.
That's why one of the most valuable questions a growing company can ask is:
Does this product strengthen the collection we're trying to build?
What I'm Looking For
When I evaluate a product line, I'm rarely asking whether a product is good enough to sell.
I'm asking whether it strengthens the collection.
Does it help customers accomplish what they came to do? Does it reinforce the story the brand is trying to tell? Does it naturally fit with the products around it?
Get more leverage from what you already have—whether that's clarifying a brand, tightening an assortment, or creating a more cohesive customer experience.
Sometimes the right decision isn't introducing another SKU.
It's filling the gap that keeps the assortment from feeling complete.
Because customers don't experience products one at a time.
They experience the collection as a whole.
Where I Usually Come In
Founders often have a roadmap full of product ideas.
Each one has a good reason behind it. A customer asked for it. A retailer suggested it. A competitor launched something similar. It feels like the next logical step.
My role is to step back and look at the assortment through a different lens.
Where are the gaps? Where are the overlaps? Does the collection make it easier for customers to create, compare, or buy with confidence? Is every product reinforcing the brand, or are we slowly building a collection that no longer has a clear point of view?
Sometimes growth comes from adding something new.
Just as often, it comes from making the existing collection work better together.
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Every strong brand is built through a series of deliberate decisions.
This series explores eight of the most important ones.