Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData

A Problem, Presented Visually

The following bar chart clearly illustrates a problem.

I depicted the number of styles (i.e. t-shirt, not white t-shirt, not XL white t-shirt, just the style level) with annual sales >= $1,000.

There are two dates that are problematic in the image.

End of December 2023.
End of December 2024.

Because each date represents twelve-months of purchase history, it likely means that many items were discontinued at the End of December 2022 and the End of December 2023. It could also mean that new items weren't introduced right after that whereas they were introduced at comparable times the year prior.

This is such an easy query to run.

So run it ... does it say anything about why your business is thriving or struggling?

Contact me for your own Categories analysis (click here). Blog subscribers and prior clients save $$$.

Sloane Montgomery

I'll receive an email from one of you ... my first thought is "here comes a new project!".

More often than not, it's an email about a fictional character in a months-long case study. A character named Sloane Montgomery. She's the Chief Merchandising Officer at the fictional company being analyzed. She doesn't hold back. She says what she wants to say, nobody in Human Resources is going to restrain her.

It seems like some of you work with this individual.

Spend any amount of time on LinkedIn and you'll read dozens of hopelessly simple stories about how "brands" can improve. Read the comments ... professionals saying that something Bed Bath & Beyond did is a "cautionary tale". Sure it is.

Have you ever tried to change something that a company does, only to have an individual get in your way, and the individual is somebody you cannot control? The person doesn't report to you. The person is lawless, arrogant, craves power, has power.

The person has power.

Often, the person is not the CEO. I once worked with a Manager-level individual who could stop any initiative cold dead. He'd just say "we're not working on that" and that was it, nobody worked on it. When the person retired, progress happened.

I once worked with the President of a Merchandise Division. This person was not smart. This person was powerful. This person posted substandard results for years, but was a golden child, adored by Leadership. This person used up staff. This person stole ideas.

Most of you work at "brands" that know what to do, that know what must be done. I've yet to work with a catalog brand that knows the brand should have moved into the future twenty years ago but failed to do so ... and is now trapped by the customer who shops the catalog, the merchandise preferred by a customer who bought from catalogs in 1989, and the vendors who are dependent on the brand to keep spending money on catalogs. The employees know they need to change. And yet? Change doesn't happen. Because somebody like Sloane Montgomery has power, and won't let change happen.

Your job, of course, is to make change happen.

What does Sloane Montgomery (or your version of Sloane Montgomery) need to look good?

What is Sloane Montgomery afraid of?

What motivates Sloane Montgomery?

What motivates you?

Is there an intersection between what motivates Sloane Montgomery and what motivates you?

Is the person simply corrupt / corrupted? If so, it might be time for you to work somewhere else.

Does the person have morals? If so, there is a solution. It will be your job to identify the solution.

You won't find the solution on LinkedIn. Your problem is a local problem (a unique individual with unique personality traits) ... the stuff people share on LinkedIn are global problems with pithy solutions.

There's a reason many of you email me about this fictional individual.

Do you work with somebody comparable to Sloane Montgomery? If so, email me your story (kevinh@minethatdata.com) ... how did you get break down the barrier between you and the individual?

Beans: Email Communications

A discussion about Home merchandise. The discussion started after I previously shared the following "Class Of" table.

______________________________________________________

From: sloane.montgomery@beans.com
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2026 3:19 PM
To: Paisley Ingram <paisley.ingram@beans.com>
Subject: RE: FW: Rebuilding Plan

I can't believe I'm saying this ... maybe.

But I can't be the only one accountable here. If the solution is my team cranking out a bunch of new styles/skus and then the marketing team executes their standard ten batch-and-blast campaigns each week with a subject line that says "88 new items!!" paired with a Facebook post showing a new towel then I'd just as soon do nothing. That's not marketing, that's coloring by the numbers.

Our marketing team cannot keep pretending it is 2011. They're going to have to work as hard as my team works. I need your support on this one.

______________________________________________________

From: paisley.ingram@beans.com
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2026 2:47 PM
To: Sloane Montgomery <sloane.montgomery@beans.com>
Subject: RE: FW: Rebuilding Plan

Does he have a point that many of our Categories need to be "rebuilt"? It looks to me like he identified a credible problem.

______________________________________________________

From: sloane.montgomery@beans.com
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2026 2:33 PM
To: Paisley Ingram <paisley.imgram@beans.com>
Subject: RE: FW: Rebuilding Plan

Goober the Linguist used the word "dearth".

Mutton Head is kind of missing the point. This is a problem that can be solved by the Marketing Team. Prospects who never purchased from us don't know what is new and what is existing. They don't! If we only had three products, it would be up to Marketing to either find a market for the three products or they could do the hard work to create a market for the three products. Ideally they'd do both. It's not like Apple has tens of thousands of products, some would suggest they have a "dearth" of products. And yet, they're just fine.

It is wrong to suggest that the size of my assortment is a problem. Size matters, to a point.

______________________________________________________

From: Paisley Ingram <paisley.ingram@beans.com>
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2026 2:03 PM
To: Sloane.Montgomery@beans.com
Subject: FW: Rebuilding Plan

FYI.

Best,

Paisley

______________________________________________________

From: Kevin Hillstrom <kevinh@minethatdata.com>
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2026 1:15 PM
To: paisley.ingram@beans.com
Subject: Rebuilding Plan

We've talked about the importance of "rebuilding" your assortment. There are many categories where existing items were scaled back. Take Home for instance. Two years ago only $650,000 of $1,889,000 of new merchandise from the year prior was carried forward. The dearth of existing items results in the customer having too little to choose from. As new items were scaled back from 542 to 525 to 388 to 368 per year, too little demand was generated from new items, causing subsequent year existing merchandise to suffer. To have a great existing class of merchandise, you have to have plenty of new items the year(s) prior.

This is a cycle that is very hard to pull out of unless your Merchandising Team spends 2-3 years "rebuilding" the assortment. If I were in your shoes, I'd require a "rebuilding plan" from your Merchandising Team and a "Merchandise Awareness Plan" from your Marketing Team. Both teams would work together for the next three years to build a foundation for success. Your Marketing Team should be able to clearly articulate how they will create awareness for new items.

I'm happy to share examples from non-competitive clients if you are interested.

Thanks,

Kevin

"Categories" Project and Customer Advocate Mentoring

Ok, I've listened to your requests over the past year ... those requests resulted in two new project opportunities for all of you. Contact me (kevinh@minethatdata.com) for details.

You've read my Case Study series (plenty more coming from the world of "Beans", FYI). Those analytics are part of a new product offering called "Categories" ... where you will learn how your customers interact with Merchandise Categories/Departments. The analysis is designed to explain why your business is thriving / struggling, pointing out actionable insights for marketing and merchandising purposes. As you can see, if you are a prior client or are a blog subscriber (hint - that's you) there is a substantial cost incentive to work on this project.

The most popular request in 2026 has been a form of specialized "Mentoring" ... either weekly video conferences or weekly video conferences fused with ad-hoc analytics designed to help your Management Team navigate customer behavior in 2026. Here are your two "Mentoring" options ... I call this offering a "Customer Advocate Mentorship" opportunity. Think of it as me being a "Chief Customer Officer" of sorts.

Click here for data layouts as well as other project offerings for the remainder of 2026.

My July / August / September calendar is likely to fill up quickly after this announcement, so please reach out soon to reserve time for your project.

Thanks,
Kevin

It's Time!

Once again, we've made it to the next run of the MineThatData Elite Program!

In our study of "Beans: The Internet's Only Variety Store!" we covered a handful of elements from a typical Elite Program Run (click here or click here or click here). The analytics are helpful, and you won't find them in on your Agency-Generated Shopify Dashboard.

Cost? $1,800 for first-time participants, $1,000 per run thereafter, participation is fully voluntary. If you don't want to participate in the October run, don't participate!

Deets:

Data due by 6/15 (let me know if you need to see the file format I use to run the analysis).
Payment due by 6/15 (I'll invoice you ASAP).
Analysis completed by 6/30.

Contact me now (kevinh@minethatdata.com) to participate in the June run of the Elite Program!

Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData

A Problem, Presented Visually

Sloane Montgomery

Beans: Email Communications

"Categories" Project and Customer Advocate Mentoring

It's Time!

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