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A product portfolio that grew organically rarely matches the demand and margin shape it should. A Product Mix Optimization Playbook reads SKU contribution, channel margin, demand trajectory, and capacity to surface which products to promote, prune, or rebalance to lift portfolio margin without sacrificing breadth.
The Challenge
The top-revenue SKU list dominates portfolio attention even when the actual contribution margin sits in different SKUs. Discount-heavy revenue products consume support, capacity, and attention that would produce more margin elsewhere in the mix.
The same SKU may carry strong margin in channel A and negative margin in channel B due to channel-specific discounts, returns rates, and support cost. Without per-channel decomposition, the SKU stays in both channels and the negative-margin combination keeps draining contribution.
Underperforming SKUs persist until they obviously collapse. By then the working capital, complexity, and operational overhead they consumed has accumulated. Proactive pruning is rarely done because the decision feels small until it is large.
How eyko Solves It
A Product Mix Optimization Playbook reads SKU-level revenue, contribution margin, channel performance, demand trajectory, capacity consumption, and operational overhead to score the portfolio per SKU. It identifies the SKUs worth promoting (high margin, growing demand), the SKUs worth pruning (sustained underperformance and overhead drag), and the SKUs worth rebalancing across channels where mix is producing negative margin combinations.
The Playbook analyzed 4,200 SKUs across 6 channels and 18 product lines. 240 SKUs carry materially negative contribution margin, primarily driven by channel-specific discount programs and high returns rates. 84 SKUs show high margin and growing demand but receive disproportionately low marketing and operational attention. Portfolio rebalancing across these two cohorts alone projects $6.8M in annualized contribution lift.
| Metric | Current | Benchmark | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary indicator | Flagged | Target | Action needed |
| Secondary indicator | Monitoring | Within range | On track |
| Trend direction | Declining | Stable | Review required |
Product Mix Optimization scores every SKU in the portfolio on revenue, contribution margin, channel performance, demand trajectory, capacity consumption, and operational overhead. The Playbook surfaces SKUs worth promoting (high margin, growing demand), SKUs worth pruning (sustained underperformance and drag), and SKUs worth rebalancing across channels where the mix produces negative margin combinations so portfolio decisions get made on contribution rather than revenue rank alone.
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FAQ
Everything you need to know about Product Portfolio Map.
Product Mix Optimization is an AI-driven scoring of every SKU in the portfolio on revenue, contribution margin, channel performance, demand trajectory, capacity consumption, and operational overhead. The Playbook surfaces SKUs worth promoting, pruning, or rebalancing across channels so portfolio decisions get made on contribution rather than revenue rank alone.
The Playbook reads from your ERP or sales system (per-SKU revenue and units, channel breakouts), finance system (contribution margin, channel-specific cost allocations, returns rates), warehouse system (capacity consumption per SKU), and product master data (lifecycle stage, BOM). At least 12 months of paired SKU-and-channel data anchors the optimization.
A top-SKU report ranks by revenue. Product Mix Optimization ranks by contribution and decomposes the SKU economics by channel, returns rate, and operational overhead. The two are complementary, but contribution-based ranking is what surfaces the negative-margin SKUs hiding inside high revenue numbers and the high-margin growing SKUs that get less attention than their economics justify.
Yes. For each underperforming SKU the Playbook recommends a specific move (prune, repackage, channel rebalance, pricing review) with the dominant driver named. For high-margin growing SKUs the Playbook recommends marketing emphasis and supply prioritization. Each recommendation projects annualized contribution impact so product leadership prioritizes the highest-impact moves first and tracks contribution capture quarterly.
Join the enterprises replacing weeks of manual analysis with a single prompt. See what eyko Playbooks can do with your data.
