Don’t let outdated SKUs collect dust and dollars—make your product mix work harder every 90 days.
In the fast-evolving world of industrial distribution, the shelf life of your catalog can be surprisingly short. Whether you’re managing ceramic fiber boards, refractory castables, or UV-resistant laminated glass, a product line that made sense six months ago may already be dragging down profitability today.
Enter the quarterly product review: a disciplined, data-informed checkpoint that helps glass, ceramics, and refractories distributors keep their offerings aligned with demand, market trends, and margin goals. But too often, these reviews are skipped or handled informally. That’s a missed opportunity.
Here’s how to make your quarterly product review both actionable and repeatable.
1. Segment Your Product Portfolio Before You Analyze It
Don’t just look at raw sales numbers. Divide your SKUs by category (e.g., fire-rated glass, low-silica bricks, alumina ceramics) and by performance tiers:
Core SKUs: Consistently high-selling, high-margin, wide-demand items
Niche SKUs: Moderate or low sales, but critical to key accounts or specs
At-risk SKUs: Low sales, declining margin, or rising complaints
Obsolete SKUs: No movement in 9–12 months, no upcoming RFQs
This framework will guide decisions around which SKUs to promote, reevaluate, or retire.
2. Combine Quantitative and Qualitative Inputs
Data is essential, but so is frontline feedback. Pull reports on velocity, margin, returns, and stockouts—but also talk to:
Inside sales: Are there products they constantly have to substitute or explain away?
Warehouse leads: What’s gathering dust? What’s frequently mispicked?
Buyers: Which items are driving MOQ headaches or rising inbound freight costs?
Combining both perspectives creates a richer picture of real-world product performance.
3. Look for Redundancy and Cannibalization
Many distributors discover that several SKUs are serving the same need but splitting demand. Do you really need four grades of silica brick if 90% of orders go to one? Does your tile adhesive line include two similar high-temp ceramic formulas with overlapping specs? This is the time to flag overlap for consolidation.
4. Evaluate the Health of Supplier Relationships
Your product review should include an audit of supplier performance. Are you holding inventory because your supplier can’t meet lead times? Are you carrying slow movers because of contractual obligations or outdated MOQ agreements? Product decisions can’t be made in a vacuum—they must reflect your procurement realities.
5. Establish a Retirement Process
When you decide to sunset a SKU, have a clear deactivation plan:
Notify sales teams and provide recommended substitutes
Update ERP and online catalogs
Set final sale or clearance pricing, if appropriate
Communicate transparently with any customers still buying the product
Letting SKUs linger in limbo invites confusion and undercuts your warehouse efficiency.
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Running a quarterly product review isn’t just good housekeeping—it’s a competitive necessity. For distributors of glass, ceramics, and refractories, it’s the mechanism that ensures your catalog stays relevant, lean, and profitable. When done consistently, it builds cross-departmental discipline and gives leadership real insight into which products drive growth—and which just take up space. In short, it keeps your inventory strategy as resilient as the materials you sell.
