diminishing returns

“However, overreliance on promotion delivers diminishing returns and erodes brand equity, and that is what has happened here,” Heaf said, according to a FactSet transcript of the post-earnings call with analysts.

This well-known phenomenon is referred to as the "law of diminishing returns."

They pledged to “notably” raise the share of household consumption in the economy, a promise that analysts say is to hedge against a global backlash aimed at a flood of cheap Chinese exports and to make up for diminishing returns from domestic investments.

“You have diminishing returns on the end of the spectrum,” he said.

On Pinterest’s Tuesday earnings call, the company shared that it anticipates its cost of goods sold to accelerate from the end of 2025 into 2026, in part due to “diminishing returns” from the infrastructure cost optimization initiatives that Pinterest has undertaken for the last two-plus years.