# Retailers cut product lines to fix profits

> Dollar General, BJ's, Lululemon and Under Armour are slashing SKUs to reduce discounting, manage inventory and regain pricing power.
- Title: Retailers cut product lines to fix profits · CNBC | Shortify
- Summary: Dollar General, BJ's, Lululemon and Under Armour are slashing SKUs to reduce discounting, manage inventory and regain pricing power. Major retailers are…
- Keywords: dollar general, bj's wholesale club, lululemon, under armour, retail strategy, inventory management, product assortment, pricing power, discounting, business, finance, Retailers
- Source: CNBC — https://cnbc.com/2026/10/10/from-bjs-to-lululemon-retailers-are-trimming-assortments.html
- Author: Ryan Baker
- Published: 2026-10-10T12:00:01+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: dollar general, bj's wholesale club, lululemon, under armour, retail strategy, inventory management, product assortment, pricing power, discounting, business, finance
## Retailers slash product lines
Dollar General, BJ's Wholesale Club, Lululemon and Under Armour have cut or plan to cut stock keeping units, or SKUs, during earnings calls this year.
## Dollar General cuts 1,500 SKUs
In March, Dollar General said it trimmed one thousand five hundred S K U s. In August, Under Armour said it shrunk S K U s by twenty five percent over the past few years.
## More cuts planned ahead
Under Armour plans to cut another twenty five percent of S K U s.B J's Wholesale Club said it plans to reduce roughly twenty percent of S K U s.
## Why retailers are cutting
Trimming inventory can help a business stabilize sales or get back to growth and reduce chances a company gets stuck with unwanted inventory. But the move leaves consumers with less choice.
## Too much discounting hurts profits
When a brand struggles to sell certain products, it leads to discounting which hurts profitability. Too many promotions can cause problems for retailers trying to maintain healthy margins.

> Discounting needs to be fixing mistakes. It needs to be done quickly.
## Under Armour's profitability crisis
Under Armour's operating income turned negative in fiscal two thousand twenty five and two thousand twenty six. The company said its problems would not be solved by chasing unhealthy sales volume or short term revenue.

> Today, we're managing for quality. Fewer products with greater purpose, tighter execution and a clear reason to buy.
## Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank's vision
Under Armour C E O Kevin Plank said on the company's fiscal first quarter earnings call in August that the company will sell so much more of so many less products at a much higher…

> We will sell so much more of so many less products at a much higher full retail price.
## Lululemon's paradox
Lululemon grew its sales by more than five hundred million dollars from fiscal two thousand twenty four to two thousand twenty five.
## Lululemon's saturation problem
Lululemon reported six point three billion dollars in U S sales in fiscal two thousand twenty five.

> It's a level where they can be large and still cool. Above that, they start cheapening what they stand for.
## Box stores manage inventory differently
For small box stores like Dollar General and big box retailers like B J's, cutting assortment helps them manage inventory and refine offerings to stabilize the business rather than raise prices.
## B J's strategy: focus and growth
B J's C E O Robert Eddy said reducing choice, such as cutting the number of scents of body wash, pushes sales into remaining products and makes room for new categories not previously offered.

> That is sourcing sales growth as well and sort of giving us the formula where we can cut SKUs, and see sales go up, and see margin dollars go up.
## Execution remains the challenge
Successfully slashing products from shelves is difficult in practice.Box stores risk losing customers to competitors that offer the products they scrapped.B J's acknowledged a previous attempt to cut S K U s was unsuccessful.

> We just cut SKUs which cut sales, and then we added some SKUs back and so really what we're doing now is removing unnecessary choice.
## Key takeaway

Major retailers are cutting product assortments to reduce discounting, stabilize sales and boost profitability as shoppers cut spending.