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4 - Variety

from Part II - The Driving Wheel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  aN Invalid Date NaN

Victor Martínez-de-Albéniz
Affiliation:
IESE Business School, Barcelona
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Summary

This chapter examines product variety as a strategic lever shaping identity, relevance, and choice. Using Farfetch as a central case, it shows how assortment breadth attracts heterogeneous consumers but increases operational complexity and cost. The chapter explores different variety models – owned stock, marketplace curation, and hybrid approaches – and how they affect sourcing, logistics, and pricing. Behavioral research reveals that variety enhances perceived freedom but may overwhelm consumers when excessive. Data-driven assortment optimization emerges as a key capability, enabling retailers to detect gaps, identify winning attributes, and prune low-performing items. Variety becomes a managed system requiring balance: wide enough to satisfy diverse needs but with the appropriate curation to preserve clarity, efficiency, and brand coherence.

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