How to turn your SKU review meetings from finger-pointing marathons into margin-driving strategy sessions.
SKU decisions shouldn’t live in silos. Yet in many glass, ceramic, and refractory distribution firms, they do. Purchasing owns the cost. Sales owns the customer. Ops owns the space. And no one owns the whole picture. That’s why structured, cross-functional SKU reviews are so critical—and so often underused.
A good SKU review brings together stakeholders from sales, procurement, operations, and finance to assess the health, necessity, and performance of each item. Done right, these sessions lead to smarter stocking, stronger margins, and cleaner catalogs. Done poorly, they devolve into finger-pointing or endless debate.
Here’s how to make your SKU review sessions effective and actionable.
1. Define Clear Objectives
Start by outlining what the session is trying to solve:
Reduce working capital tied up in slow movers?
Free up warehouse space?
Identify SKUs to convert to special order?
Improve supplier leverage by concentrating volume?
A clear goal will shape the scope. For example, “we want to remove 10% of glass SKUs with sales under $5,000/year” narrows the conversation productively.
2. Use the Right Data
Bring quantitative insights:
Units sold and revenue
Gross margin per SKU
Storage cost (or footprint)
Customer count and reorder frequency
Complexity (handling, packaging, compliance)
Pair this with qualitative inputs:
Customer anecdotes
Field service reports
Sales rep perspectives on why an item matters
3. Apply a Triage Framework
A three-tier classification system works well:
Retain: High velocity, high margin, or critical to key customers.
Review: Moderate performers or SKUs with declining trends.
Retire: Low velocity, high complexity, or duplicated function.
Assign each SKU a default status based on data, then allow discussion to override if justified.
4. Create Accountability by Function
Avoid “who’s responsible?” paralysis. Assign tasks clearly:
Sales: Validate client demand, suggest substitutions.
Ops: Flag storage issues, handling concerns.
Purchasing: Confirm MOQ constraints, vendor dependencies.
Finance: Calculate cost-to-serve and working capital impact.
5. Time-Bound the Session
Don’t try to review 2,000 SKUs in one sitting. Prioritize:
Top 10% by revenue for potential upsell/bundling.
Bottom 10% by velocity for cleanup.
Redundant SKUs in the same category (e.g., overlapping sizes in tempered glass).
6. Document and Follow Through
Build an SKU decision log:
SKU #
Decision (Retain/Retire/Review)
Rationale
Owner
Action date
Track this monthly. Celebrate SKU reductions like cost savings—because that’s exactly what they are.
:
Cross-functional SKU reviews are where operational excellence meets commercial strategy. In the glass and ceramics sector—where every item is heavy, fragile, and space-intensive—regular, structured review sessions keep your product mix lean and profitable. Don’t let SKU management default to autopilot. Bring your teams together, build a framework, and drive decisions that strengthen your margins from the inside out.
