When Variety Stops Helping

Everyone launched more.
But hardly anyone grew.

Between 2002 and 2011, consumer goods companies in the U.S. increased product launches by 60%.
Sales? Just 2.8% per year.
(Source: BCG, Bain)

Fig. above: More products. Same sales. The pattern was visible a decade ago. Still relevant today.

Even back then, the pattern was clear.
More variety didn’t bring more growth.
And more than ten years later, many are still cleaning up the mess.

The Illusion of Progress

Every new product feels like progress.
A flavour for this customer.
A size for that channel.
A bundle to keep the retailer happy.

Sometimes it works.
Personalization done right, at scale can lift revenue by 10–15%.
(Source: McKinsey, 2022)

But most variety is not value.
It is noise.
It is admin.

It hides here:

• Downtime in factories, smaller batch sizes
• More suppliers
• Extra stock in warehouses
• Ad campaigns split into fragments
• Sales chasing everything, selling nothing

Margins go. Focus goes. Speed goes.

The Point Where “More” Starts to Hurt

You believe you serve more customers.
In truth, you split your focus.
More effort. Same result.

Bain says 70% of executives see complexity hurting profit.
The loss? $16–28 billion in missed annual earnings across the consumer goods sector.

And when companies try to fix it, they often do it wrong.
Cutting SKUs by volume, not by cost.
Killing products — but keeping the messy supply chain that came with them.

That’s not simplification.
That’s surface cleaning.

What Simplicity Looks Like

One global tool brand ran the numbers.
20% of SKUs made 80% of the revenue.

They didn’t just cut.
They looked at what matters to their core users.
Some niche items stayed.
The rest — simplified, redesigned, or gone.

Result: complexity down.
Operating margin up 70%.
(Source: Bain, 2022)

Others saw:

• –4 to –7% in COGS after reducing specs (BCG)
• +10% in margins by focusing on core (McKinsey)
• Faster launches, fewer mistakes, clearer brands

What to Do Instead

1. Remove what drains you
   • Count full cost per product — not only sales, also switching, stock, packaging
   • Cut what sells little and eats margin
   • Avoid “just in case” thinking — every item should earn its place
2. Keep what delivers
   • Protect your core — the few products that really move
   • Fix what’s small but needed — redesign, reprice, or simplify
   • Don’t keep complexity only because it’s familiar
3. Make simplicity the law
   • One in, one out — no free additions
   • A business case must include complexity cost
   • Review regularly — once a year is not enough

Final Word

Simplicity is not doing less.
It is doing better.
With intent.

Because when you focus —
you grow.