Services

Assortment Strategy

We optimize assortments with advanced algorithms — not just traditional TURF.

The Challenge

Traditional assortment optimization via TURF gets stuck in early choices and misses better combinations.

Who is it for?

Category managers and commercial teams in retail and FMCG.

Our approach

We use hybrid optimization combining exhaustive search with beam search and swap polish. We move from reach/frequency toward expected volume.

Deliverables

Assortment ranking
optimal portfolio per K-level
cannibalization analysis
volume simulations
competitive scenarios.

Related reading

Read more about the methods and perspectives behind our work.

What is TURF analysis?

TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency) is a method for selecting the combination of products or variants that reaches the most unique consumers. It answers the question: which X products should we carry to maximize the share of potential buyers?

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Limits of traditional TURF

Traditional TURF has three fundamental limitations: it maximizes reach instead of volume, the greedy algorithm can miss better combinations, and it ignores cannibalization between products.

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From reach to volume

Reach tells you how many you reach. Volume tells you how much you sell. Assortment optimization should aim for volume, and that requires factoring in purchase frequency, conversion and cannibalization.

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Advanced TURF: hybrid optimization

Advanced TURF combines exhaustive search, swap optimization and reverse pruning to find better solutions than the greedy algorithm. It is computationally intensive but delivers provably better assortments.

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Volume-based TURF

Volume-based TURF weights not just who is reached but how much each person is expected to buy. It gives assortment recommendations that maximize actual sales instead of number of consumers reached.

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Interested?

Get in touch to discuss how we can help.