The cost of a short catalogue
Eight references, and the rest turned down
A short catalogue is expensive to hold. Volumes per reference stay low, so purchase prices never come down, and every stockout is visible immediately because there is nothing to mask it.
A wide catalogue does the opposite: it dilutes mistakes. A reference that does not sell disappears into the mass, and nobody asks why it was stocked in the first place.
What it changes when you order
We order in runs, not continuously. A stockout therefore lasts between six and ten weeks, against a few days at a general distributor.
It is the complaint we hear most often, and it is fair. We have no good answer: it is the direct counterpart of the choice above.
Why we stick to it
Because the question "should we stock this product?" still has an answer at eight references, and stops having one at eighty. Past a certain volume you no longer choose, you fill.