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Guest post by: Seth Godin Become an Author

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Here's what most retailers do:
They organize by brand/designer or label
Within that, they organize by type of item
and within that, by style
and finally, by size

So, all the Armani blue suits are next to each other, then by size.

So, all the boxer shorts at the Gap are on a wall, organized by style first (checks over here, stripes over there,) then by size.

So, all the power tools at Home Depot are together, sometimes by brand, sometimes by function (saw) and then by type of material to be cut (wood).

This is dumb, and the web makes it obvious why it's dumb. It's dumb because it makes it easier for the clerk, not for the customer. And dumb because it plays to the label's ego, not to ours.

Does anyone say, "okay, even though my son wears size large boxers, these striped ones are really nice, I'll buy the small instead." Of course not.

So why not put all the large boxers right next to each other, regardless of designer and style?

When you go to Home Depot to get what you need to build something out of wood, why don't you find the glue and the wood saws and the screwdrivers and the screws all together in a section called, "working with wood"?

It's pretty simple: if you want to sell belts and socks and even shoes, you need to sell a suit first. Make it easy to add on, and people will do it, quite happily.

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