ABSTRACT
Product management has always been at the centre of a healthy retail business. In the past, traders and merchants who thrived did so because they gave their customers a better product offer than their contemporaries; intuitively knowing what the consumer market will judge to be a superior product offer is the prowess of the retail entrepreneur. In the retail environment of modern developed economies, opportunities to exploit really new products are rare, yet talented retailers manage to create the illusion of newness and freshness in their product ranges by selecting and developing innovative product variations.
