It should also be known that there are at least 75,000 - 100,000 additional items being offered by manufacturers for sale any given time. So even if there were no new products being introduced into the marketplace, a majority of existing products would not be available for sale. There is not a retailer in America that would disagree with the statement that new products are the lifeblood of the industry. In fact, when retailers feel that a new product is going to be a blockbuster, they compete with one another to see who can get it on the shelf first. The ability to be the first retailer to have the product available for sale is a huge competitive advantage for a retailer.
Manufacturers are quick to add new items to categories that are growing.
In the first nine months of 1999, over 1,000 new items have been introduced. The following chart shows how many new consumer packaged goods items were introduced from 1992-'98. The retailer has no control over how many new items are introduced or who introduces them. A retailer's job is to select those items that our customer wants to buy. A good retailer cannot afford to select too many losers.