Ever-expanding assortment
The range has grown considerably in recent years and the business now offers more than 12,000 SKU’s. About three-quarters of the extensive range is made up of off-the-shelf products ready for customers to buy. The remaining products are custom-made for the customer’s specific needs.
“Every year, 200 to 300 products are added to the assortment. Although there is scope to further expand our product offering, in order to successfully phase in a new item, this requires a huge investment of both time and money” explains Thomas Balis, Supply Chain Team Leader at Brouwland.
Thomas goes on to add that he anticipates the assortment expand further in the coming years: “After all, demand in the market continues to grow.” This growth, however, has had a profound impact on how the team at Brouwland’s manages the inventory. While the business sustained a year-on-year growth rate of 20% over the last 10-15 years through investing in their assortment, this strategy has caused an exponential increase in stock value. “The challenge for us was that we did not always invest in the right stock.”