Back in 2016, Retail Dive interviewed FieldStack founder Brett Wickard about a concept that was gaining traction called hyper-localization.
The idea was simple: every store serves a different community, so every store shouldn't necessarily carry the exact same products.
A lot has changed over the past decade. More retailers now have access to better inventory data, unified commerce platforms, and automatic forecasting. The term hyper-localization isn't used as often today, but the principle behind it remains.
"There are things that you carry in your store that make it who your store is, and customers expect them when they walk into that chain," a FieldStack representative shared with Retail Dive. "Then you have things that are regional, and hopefully you're looking at analytics to figure out what those will be."
That idea still holds up.
Even stores within the same region can have different buying habits. Store size, nearby competitors, local events, and customer preferences all influence which products perform best.
That doesn't mean every location needs a completely different assortment. Most retailers benefit from a strong core assortment while making targeted adjustments where local demand calls for it.
One example FieldStack founder Brett Wickard shared with Retail Dive illustrates this well. A local honey product may not be one of your best sellers, but if you're the only retailer in town that carries it, customers may make a special trip just to buy it — and often leave with several other items.
That's why successful merchandising isn't about removing every slow-moving product. Some items help define your store, strengthen customer loyalty, or encourage larger purchases. The key is understanding which products truly add value and which ones are simply taking up shelf space.
In the interview, Brett Wickard explained that understanding customer buying habits is key to making smarter inventory decisions.
"How you get that right is through true omnichannel, and knowing which buyers are buying which things."
Today, retailers have far better visibility than they did just ten years ago. Store-level sales, customer purchase history, inventory performance, and fulfillment data all help retailers make more informed merchandising decisions.
Technology alone doesn't decide what each store should carry, but it gives retailers the information they need to make those decisions with confidence.
Whether you call it hyper-localization, localized assortments, or simply good merchandising, the goal is the same: give every store the products its customers actually want.
With today's inventory and customer data, retailers of all sizes have more opportunities to tailor stores where it makes sense — without reinventing every location.
Read the full Retail Dive article: What is hyper-localization, and what does it mean for retailers?