reduce costs

/rɪˈdjuːs kɒsts/

Meaning

To lower the amount of money spent on running a business, project, or operation. It is a very common business collocation used in discussions about budgeting, efficiency, and financial planning. It sounds professional yet is simple enough for daily office use.

Examples

  • We need to find new ways to reduce costs without compromising on quality.

    We need to find new ways to reduce costs without compromising on quality.

  • Switching to a remote-first model helped the startup reduce costs significantly.

    Switching to a remote-first model helped the startup reduce costs significantly.

  • The management team is looking for opportunities to reduce costs this quarter.

    The management team is looking for opportunities to reduce costs this quarter.

  • By automating our inventory system, we managed to reduce operational costs.

    By automating our inventory system, we managed to reduce operational costs.

  • How do you plan to reduce costs for the upcoming marketing campaign?

    How do you plan to reduce costs for the upcoming marketing campaign?

Common Mistakes

  • ✗ We must reduce the prices of our production.

    ✓ We must reduce our production costs.

    Price is what a customer pays. Cost is what a business pays to produce or run things.

  • ✗ The company tried to economic costs.

    ✓ The company tried to reduce costs.

    Economic is an adjective, not a verb. You need a verb like reduce, cut, or lower to describe decreasing expenses.

Related Expressions

cut expensestrim the budgetlower expenditures

Practice

  • Our primary objective this fiscal year is to ___ by renegotiating supplier contracts.

    💡 spend less money on operations

    Show answer

    reduce costs

  • To avoid layoffs, the board decided to ___ in other departments.

    💡 decrease business expenses

    Show answer

    reduce costs