An article in the Wall Street Journal on September 1, 2026 titled “Retailers Ditch Variety to Best Supply-Chain Costs and Tariffs”, describes how Under Armor, an athletic apparel retailer, Helen of Troy, a consumer products company and Yedi Houseware, a home goods retailer, are decreasing product variety to better manage costs due to supply chain volatility. By decreasing colors, styles, sizes and products, their supply chains reduce the inventory required to deal with fuel price increases, tariff changes and consumer demand uncertainty. Specific examples include Under Armor cutting 25% of its products over the past two years. How much does reducing product variety impact the inventory safety stock at these firms, thus reducing supply chain risk ? What is the risk associated with going overboard in reducing variety i.e., how do you ensure that the associated top line reduction does not overwhelm this strategy ? How does such a strategy enable these companies to stay competitive ?