Before considering any new product, distributors will typically assess how it fits within the existing category structure.
This may include:
Whether the product fills a current gap
Alignment with existing product tiers
Channel relevance
Format differences
Overlap with existing supplier lines
In many cases, the question is not:
“Is this a good product?”
But rather:
“Does this product have 'a job' within the category?”
Distributors are managing range complexity across thousands of SKUs, and every new line introduced needs to serve a defined purpose for their end-users.
