Plan Next Year's Product Range in November, Not January
Suppliers fill their calendars in December. If you decide what to sell next year in January, you are ordering whatever is left. A single afternoon in November fixes that.
27 October 2026 · 2 min read
January feels like planning season, but by then suppliers are booked, shipping is slow again after the holidays, and the products you wanted are either unavailable or arriving in March. The useful planning window is November.
The short version
- Plan before the supplier calendar fills
- Three piles: keep, cut, test
- Test small
- Ask about minimums and timing now
Sort this year's catalogue into three piles
| Pile | The test | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | Sold steadily without heavy discounting | Reorder more, and protect the margin |
| Cut | Needed a discount to move, or never sold | Clear it, stop reordering |
| Test | New idea with real demand signals | Small order, one channel, clear success measure |
The hard pile is “cut”. Products that sold “okay” usually sold okay because of a discount, which means they were never actually profitable — they just took longer to notice.
Two tests, not ten
A small store cannot launch ten new products well. Two tests, each with a defined success measure — say, 20 units sold at full price within six weeks — teaches you more than ten products nobody promoted properly.
The conversation to have with suppliers now
Before you commit to anything, ask three questions: what is the lead time in January, what is the minimum order quantity, and is there a better price at a higher volume. Those three answers decide what is actually possible, not what looks good in a plan.
November planning checklist
- Every product sorted into keep / cut / test
- Bottom 20% by profit marked for clearing
- Two tests chosen, with a success measure
- Lead times and minimums confirmed in writing
- Cash needed for the first quarter estimated
- Promotion calendar sketched for the year
None of this requires forecasting software. It requires one afternoon, last year's numbers, and the willingness to stop selling the products that quietly cost you money.
One place for orders, stock and customers
Tokoo keeps the whole week's work in a single back office, so the routine stays a routine.
See plansFrequently asked questions
When should a small store plan next year's products?+
November. Suppliers and factories fill their calendars through December, and orders placed in January often arrive after the first quarter has passed. Planning in November also gives you time to clear old stock before the new range lands.
How many new products should I launch at once?+
One or two, each with a clear success measure and a real effort behind it. Launching many at once splits your attention and makes it impossible to know which one worked.
What do I do with products that sell but barely make money?+
Treat them as candidates for cutting: they consume stock budget and attention without building the business. Clear the remaining stock, and use the money on something with a real margin.
Sources
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