Brands slashing SKUs
Companies across sectors are trimming product lines and focusing on fewer, higher-margin items as input costs rise, which is pushing a trend toward curated assortments. That shift suggests marketplaces need to help small vendors pick 'hero SKUs' and bundle effectively rather than encourage broad catalogues (economictimes.indiatimes.com).
Companies are cutting products, pack sizes, and model variants to protect margins as component and packaging costs rise. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The shift is already visible in India’s consumer markets. The Economic Times reported on April 13 that smartphone makers are trimming portfolios by 5% to 7%, while fast-moving consumer goods companies have cut stock keeping units, or SKUs, by as much as 20%. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Television makers are pulling back too after price increases of up to 20% in the past four months made some entry-level variants hard to sell at their intended price points. Super Plastronics chief executive Avneet Singh Marwah said the cuts are concentrated in 32-inch to 43-inch sets, where demand has lagged the rest of the portfolio. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The immediate trigger is cost. The same report said memory chips and crude-linked packaging materials have become more expensive amid war-related supply strain and a surge in demand tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) That pressure had already started showing up in inventories. On April 2, The Economic Times reported that electronics companies were stockpiling memory chips and plastics, with plastic prices up about 30% in the prior quarter and memory chip prices up 1.8 times to 2 times over six months. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) When companies carry too many low-volume items, factories pay for it in extra changeovers, more packaging formats, shorter production runs, and higher warehouse costs. Food Logistics wrote on April 1 that manufacturers are increasingly treating SKU cuts as a plant-efficiency move, not just a marketing decision. (foodlogistics.com) Retailers are making a similar argument from the customer side. Bath & Body Works said in a November 20, 2025 earnings call that shoppers found stores “too overwhelming and confusing,” and the company began exiting weaker categories and simplifying assortments ahead of 2026. (supplychaindive.com) The backdrop is a slower, more selective consumer market. NielsenIQ said India’s fast-moving consumer goods sector posted 7.8% value growth year over year in October to December 2025, with pricing and consumption adjusting after tax-rate changes affected nearly 60% of the portfolio. (nielseniq.com) Big brands are also under pressure to defend profit, not just shelf space. PepsiCo said on December 8, 2025 that it was pursuing “record productivity savings” and sharper value tiers by brand and channel as part of its 2026 plan. (pepsico.com) That leaves marketplaces and smaller sellers with a different playbook than the “list everything” era. If brands are keeping fewer winners on the shelf, the edge shifts to picking the few products that turn fastest and packaging them in ways that keep margins intact. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
