A gap is simply something that's missing.
In retail, a gap is a hole in your assortment: a product customers want to buy but can't find in your store. As a result, they buy it somewhere else—often on Amazon.
Why should retailers care about gaps?
Because they represent one of the biggest growth opportunities.
Most retailers are focused on what they're already selling: their sales, their categories, their existing assortment. Gap analysis forces you to step back and ask a different question:
What are customers buying elsewhere that we don't offer?
Is it normal to have assortment gaps?
Absolutely.
Markets move fast. Customer demand changes constantly, and competitors react quickly. There will always be someone who identifies an emerging trend and fills that demand before others do.
So what does gap analysis actually involve?
The goal is to identify the products that are already performing exceptionally well in the market and assess whether they deserve a place in your assortment.
It's about understanding real customer demand through accurate, validated market data—not intuition.
For buyers, it's a new way of approaching category management: combining merchandising expertise with data-driven decision-making.