Scott Foster
Founder & CEO, Shape Executive · 2 Apr 2026
If you want to quantify the margin impact of your product tail, use the Quantify margin leakage.
Most leadership teams underestimate this because they don't measure it properly. You can run this diagnostic in 2 minutes using the Quantify margin leakage.
When businesses talk about product rationalisation, the conversation usually starts with the balance sheet. Slow-moving inventory. Obsolete stock. Working capital tied up in lines that generate minimal revenue. These are real problems worth solving. But they are not the most valuable outcome of a well-executed consolidation program. The real value is structural — and it shows up across the entire organisation, not just in the stock count.
What Complexity Actually Costs
A bloated product range is a complexity tax that most businesses pay without realising it. Every additional SKU creates demand on procurement, warehousing, customer service, and sales. The cost is rarely visible in a single line on the P&L. It spreads and hides. Product complexity and pricing governance compound each other — without both, margin visibility is structurally incomplete.
- Procurement teams managing supplier relationships for low-volume lines
- Warehouse space consumed by stock that turns twice a year
- Customer service handling queries for products that represent 2% of revenue
- Sales teams quoting and following up on margin-negative transactions
The 80/20 Reality in Industrial Distribution
In most industrial distribution businesses, 20% of SKUs generate 80% of revenue. This is well understood. What is less well understood is that the bottom 20% of SKUs often consume 40% to 50% of operational complexity. The tail does not just underperform — it actively drags on the rest of the business.
The Strategic Argument for Consolidation
A focused product range creates competitive advantages that a broad range cannot. It allows the business to hold deeper inventory positions on the lines that matter. It improves fill rates and DIFOT performance. It concentrates supplier negotiating leverage. It reduces the cognitive load on the sales team and allows them to develop genuine product expertise. In markets where speed of delivery and product knowledge are the primary differentiators, range focus is a strategic advantage — not a constraint.
How to Execute Without Losing Customers
The risk that stops most businesses from acting is customer retention. The fear that rationalising lines will push customers to competitors who stock everything. This fear is usually overstated — but it needs to be managed deliberately. The starting point is data. Which customers are buying the tail SKUs? At what frequency? At what margin? In many cases, the customers buying the lowest-margin lines are also the customers with the highest cost-to-serve.
The Balance Sheet Benefit Comes Last
Working capital release is the outcome that gets the most attention in boardrooms — and it is real. But it is the last benefit to materialise, not the first. The operational benefits — improved fill rates, reduced complexity, faster processing, better supplier terms — typically arrive within months. The working capital release follows as inventory turns improve and safety stock requirements reduce. Product consolidation done well is a strategic simplification that makes the core of the business stronger, faster, and more profitable.