Retailers give a new item roughly one reset cycle — a quarter, give or take — to justify its slot. Most items that fail in that window don't fail on consumer appeal; they fail on execution nobody was watching: half the stores never set it, the price rang wrong, the first replenishment lagged the first sell-through. Thirteen weeks later the velocity report is unimpressive, and the velocity report is all the buyer sees.
Weeks 1–2: Did It Actually Land?
The only question that matters at first: is it physically on shelf in the stores that authorized it? Scan-based presence checking (first scan per store) plus targeted field audits in the biggest doors. Every store that hasn't scanned by day ten is a void in the making — chase them now, while the reset paperwork is still warm.
Weeks 3–6: Velocity Against a Fair Bar
Compare the item's rate of sale against its role benchmark — similar items at similar price points in their own first quarter, not against your established flagship. Two patterns demand action: strong trial in some stores and zeros in others usually means execution variance, not product weakness; uniformly soft velocity with good presence means the price, the position, or the proposition needs the intervention, and week four is when you can still afford one.
Weeks 7–13: Build the Reset Story
By mid-quarter you're assembling the case the buyer will read: velocity trend, distribution build, repeat signals if you can get them. If the item is working, the story writes the expansion pitch. If it isn't, the discipline is harder: recommend your own retreat before the delist letter does — credibility at the category desk compounds, and it's the same principle as arriving with your own rationalization list. Launches are won in the boring weeks. Watch them like it.
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