Worked scenario
The accessories pay the rent and nobody watches them
The category earning the most is often the one measured least, because it is made of small transactions nobody thinks worth analysing.
3 min read
Ask a mobile retailer what they make on a handset and you will get an exact number. Ask what they make on accessories and you will get a range, a shrug, or a percentage that is really an average of averages.
Why the blind spot exists
Handsets are few, expensive and negotiated, so they get attention. Accessories are many, cheap and bought in mixed lots, so they get grouped. But grouping hides enormous variation: within the same category, one line can earn four times another.
Buying then follows what sells rather than what earns, which are different questions and often have different answers.
Attachment is the second number
Which accessories go out with which handsets, and at what rate. It is knowable from the same transaction data already being recorded, and it changes both what is stocked and what is placed at the counter.
What to do with it
Nothing dramatic. Stop reordering the four lines that move steadily at almost no margin, put the two that earn where they are seen, and stop treating the category as one decision. The data required is already being captured — it is simply never being asked this question.
What changes
- Margin visible per accessory line, not for accessories as a block
- Attachment rate measured — which handsets pull which accessories
- Purchase concentrated on lines that actually earn rather than lines that sell
- Pricing decisions made on line-level margin instead of category feel
Questions about anything here, or a situation this does not cover? contact@anantatechhub.com