Option Count
An option count is how many style-colorways a range holds — a single body offered in three colors contributes three, not one. It measures breadth: how wide the range reaches across categories and tiers, before any question of the depth committed behind each option.
The option is the atomic tile on a line board: one style in one colorway, one card. That makes the option count literally the number of tiles on the board, which is why breadth becomes visible the moment the range is laid out — an over-expanded category or a body carrying more colorways than it can earn is obvious in a grid and easy to miss in a list.
Option count is not SKU count. An option adds no size dimension; a SKU does. A board counts options and a buy counts SKUs, and conflating the two understates the commitment behind every colorway added in a review.
Sizing a season’s option count is arithmetic rather than judgment, and it has its own surface — the option count planner builds it category by category from your own targets and returns a directional range. It is an internal range-building metric, not a wholesale figure presented to buyers.
Canvas — the visual line board inside RetailNorthstar — puts these on one connected board, live against the plan from board to buy.