Approving a product to chain/store selection requires preapproval by each chain/store. Once approval is in place, it is possible to determine store coverage.

Each issue of a Finnish magazine or a book is separately ordered from the publisher. For foreign publications, a standing purchase order is typically used. Publisher determines the preorder cutoff, i.e. how many weeks before the first on-sale date the purchase order is submitted to the publisher.

Before a purchase order is placed, each issue is subjected to quantity control, where the number of products distributed to outlets is determined by the estimated demand with a sufficient sell-out margin. Quantity control is based on a product’s prior sales data at each outlet and an estimate on future demand.

Selection optimisation ensures that selection at different outlets remains current and varied and considers the differences in customers and locations along with the space available at the store.