Jacqueline Snyder explains how each new product SKU multiplies operational complexity: more inventory, raw materials, packaging, labels, bins, counting, replenishment. Early-stage businesses often carry too many products. Cutting the assortment lets owners stop doing everything and start managing a streamlined operation.
Every additional SKU is going to create more moving parts, more inventory to track, more raw goods, more packaging to managing, more labels, more bins, more counts, more replenishment. It's a lot. So every time you add more without simplifying anything, your business will get harder to run. They might say, I need a bigger team. I need better systems. I need to be more organized. But sometimes the very first place we look is, are you carrying too many products for the stage of business that you're in? This is like the difference between being the doer of everything and becoming the boss of your business. We don't need to manage mess better. We just need less mess.
