Sale week and a spreadsheet of everything left
The summer sale starts on Friday. On Wednesday, someone exports every product with stock and sorts it by quantity. The team goes down the list deciding percentages: thirty off dresses, forty off anything with more than twenty units, fifty off swimwear because it is swimwear. The linen trousers still selling at full price get thirty off with the rest of the category. The printed shirt that has not sold since May gets the same thirty and still does not sell.
By the end of the sale, some styles are gone and others are still there, now at a lower price, and you are planning a second, deeper markdown.
Why markdowns become blanket cuts
- Decisions are made once, just before the sale, instead of in stages.
- Stock quantity is used as the signal, not sell-through or weeks of cover.
- Categories get one percentage, regardless of how individual styles are doing.
- Broken size runs are not separated from healthy ones.
- Nobody measures what each markdown actually cleared.
The result is that styles that would have sold at full price are discounted, and styles that needed a bigger cut earlier are left until last.
What blanket markdowns cost
| Mistake | Cost |
|---|---|
| Discounting steady sellers | Margin given away on stock that would have gone anyway |
| Late cuts on slow styles | Deeper discounts needed at the end |
| Ignoring size health | Discounts on styles where only end sizes are left |
| No measurement | The same mistakes next season |
How we make markdowns deliberate
- For every style and colour, the tool shows sell-through since launch, current sales speed, weeks of cover at that speed and how much of the size run is left.
- You set your season end date and the stock level you want to reach. Styles that will not get there at their current speed are flagged as candidates, with the ones furthest off at the top.
- Candidates are grouped: slow from the start, slowed recently, or only end sizes left. Each group usually needs a different approach.
- Your team picks a markdown for each candidate, and the tool applies the new prices to your store and any other channels at the time you choose, with compare-at prices set correctly.
- Each markdown is tracked afterwards: sales speed before and after, and whether the style is now on course. Styles that did not respond come back as candidates for a further step.
- At season end, a report shows what each markdown cleared and what margin it cost, for the next season's planning.
The tool suggests. The discount and timing are always a person's decision, and pricing rules for your markets are for you and your advisers to check.
A staged approach in practice
Four weeks before the sale, the candidate list shows eight styles that will not clear at their current pace. The team gives three of them a modest cut straight away, while they still have full size runs. The rest wait a week. When the main sale starts, the linen trousers are left at full price, because they are on course to sell out anyway. After two weeks, the report shows which markdowns worked and which need to go further.
Channels and outlets
If you also sell on marketplaces or through an outlet store, prices need to move together or deliberately differ. The tool can push prices to each channel, or keep an outlet channel for end sizes only, so your main store does not become a permanent sale. Wholesale stockists often have their own agreements about markdown timing, which the tool can remind you of before your own prices drop.
Signs your markdowns need more thought
- Markdowns are decided in one meeting just before the sale.
- Whole categories get the same percentage.
- You discount styles that were still selling well.
- You do not measure what each markdown cleared.
- Second and third markdowns are the norm.