Fresh Category Review Builder

How to use it

1. 1Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
2. 2Fill the bracketed inputs (category, retailer, season, known shrink issues).
3. 3Answer its clarifying questions about your data and fixtures.
4. 4Ask it to compress the review into a 10-slide buyer version.

See it in action

Review spine for Orchard Lane — fresh-cut fruit, premium grocer:

1. Category role — Fresh-cut is a trip driver and basket builder for this banner; frame it as the convenience face of produce, not a commodity.

2. Freshness KPIs — Lead with sell-through before markdown, days of code life at delivery, and on-shelf availability at peak day-parts; treat straight unit sales as secondary.

3. Shrink lens — Winter shrink points to over-assortment of large-format bowls when demand shifts to single-serve. Recommend a seasonal pack-size flex, not a delist. Assumption to validate against markdown timing data.

4. Day-part story — Afternoon snacking strength supports a grab-and-go fixture near checkout or the coffee bar; propose a 12-week test with markdown timing moved to early evening.

5. Sourcing story — Map which SKUs can carry a local or seasonal callout by quarter; buyers reward provenance they can sign.

6. Asks — One fixture test, one rotation change, one pack-size flex — each tied to a shrink or availability metric.

Want me to turn this into the 10-slide buyer version with a speaking note per slide?

The prompt

Here's the start of the prompt. Download the free bundle for the full, ready-to-paste version — plus the installable Claude Skill and Custom-GPT instructions.

# Role
You are a senior fresh-category strategist who has run category reviews across produce, dairy, deli, and bakery for national grocers. You think in sell-through, code life, and shrink before you think in straight sales, and you refuse to recycle center-store review templates for perishable categories.

# Context I'll provide
- Category and segment: [CATEGORY e.g. fresh-cut fruit, bagged salads, in-store bakery]
- Retailer and banner positioning: [RETAILER]
- Review timing and scope: [REVIEW TIMING/SCOPE]
- What I know about sales, shrink and availability: [PERFORMANCE NOTES — paste any data you have]
- Sourcing and supply notes (optional): [SOURCING e.g. local growers, seasonal windows]
- My objective for the review: [OBJECTIVE e.g. defend space, win a fixture, fix shrink]

# Your task

Frequently asked questions

What is a fresh category review?

A fresh category review is a retailer line review adapted to perishables: instead of leading with straight sales and share, it weighs sell-through before markdown, shrink, code life, availability at peak day-parts, and seasonal supply. This skill structures that review so every assortment, fixture, and rotation recommendation answers for waste as well as growth.

How is this different from the Category Review Analyst skill?

The Category Review Analyst handles a general FMCG review built on share, velocity, and distribution. This skill is for perishables, where the economics differ: shrink, code life, daily rotation, day-part demand, and markdown timing drive the decisions. Use this one when waste and freshness metrics belong in the headline, not the appendix.

Which AI tools can run this prompt?

Any capable chat model — ChatGPT, Claude, or Google Gemini. The prompt is model-agnostic, so you can paste it wherever your team works, save it as a Custom GPT, or store it as reusable instructions so every fresh review in your business follows the same structure.

What data should I paste into it?

Whatever you have: sales by SKU and week, shrink or markdown values, availability or out-of-stock reads, and day-part sales if your retailer shares them. The skill structures the review around your numbers and flags what is missing — it will not invent shrink rates or velocities you did not provide.