Too Many Products Are Killing Your Brand

Too many products can quietly erode margins, create costly complexity and dilute your marketing investment. The problem? Most brands don’t build bloated portfolios intentionally. They accumulate them. One launch. One new variant. One retailer request. One promising opportunity at a time. Then one day, you look up and realize you’re supporting a portfolio that has become bigger, more expensive and more complicated than it needs to be. So, which products are actually pulling their weight? In this video, I reveal four critical filters that can expose what’s really happening inside your product portfolio and help you identify where you may be wasting valuable resources. But don’t assume the lowest-selling SKU is automatically the problem. The numbers can tell a very different story once you know what to look for. Sometimes your next growth opportunity isn’t another product, retailer or marketing campaign. It’s already hiding inside your business. Building or growing a consumer brand? Join my email list for insights on marketing, retail, innovation and go-to-market strategy. 👉 Join the list: https://www.brandbotany.com/newsletter #SKURationalization #ProductPortfolio #BrandStrategy ABOUT LESLEY I'm Lesley McIntosh, Founder of Brand Botany and a Fractional CMO helping founders and growth-stage consumer brands accelerate growth through stronger brand strategy, innovation, retail, and go-to-market execution. With more than 20 years of experience leading brands at L'Oréal, Procter & Gamble, and Revlon, I share practical lessons, frameworks, and real-world examples to help founders, CEOs, and business leaders build stronger consumer brands. LEARN MORE ABOUT BRAND BOTANY 🌐 https://www.brandbotany.com Subscribe for practical insights on brand strategy, retail, innovation, and growing consumer brands. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Introduction 1:55 How Consumer Brand Portfolios Become Too Complex 3:05 Four Factors to Evaluate Every SKU 3:28 SKU Productivity: Is It Pulling Its Weight? 3:50 SKU Profitability: Revenue vs. Profit 4:12 Strategic Value: The Role a Product Plays 4:43 Incremental Business: What Happens If the SKU Disappears? 5:31 Not Every "Weak" SKU Should Be Cut 6:29 The SKU Reality Check Framework 7:47 Why Pruning Your Product Portfolio Creates Growth 8:33 Building a Stronger Product Portfolio