We made the mistake once of running a blanket 40% off across our entire underwear range at the end of summer. The stock moved fast, but we noticed something in the next season: repeat customers held off on purchases until week 8. They were waiting for the sale. Took us two full seasons to undo that habit. What works for us now at Mariner is a tiered approach that never touches our core products. We only mark down seasonal colors and limited runs. The classic white, black, and navy collections that make up about 65% of revenue never go on sale. Period. Customers learn quickly that those won't get cheaper. For the seasonal pieces, we start with a "last chance" notification to our email list at 15% off, three weeks before the season ends. No public announcement. It feels like early access, not a clearance event. If stock remains after 10 days, we move to 25% off on the website but frame it as "making room for the new collection" rather than a fire sale. The timing matters. We never discount within the first 6 weeks of a new season because that's when full-price sell-through is highest. And we cap the markdown window at 3 weeks total. When it's done, it's done. Leftover stock goes to a wholesale partner, not to a deeper discount. One specific tactic that surprised us: bundling slow movers with bestsellers at a slight discount (buy 3, get 10% off if you include a seasonal color) outperformed straight markdowns by about 22% in revenue per transaction. The customer feels they got a deal. We protected the perceived value. And the sell-through rate on seasonal items hit 89% last winter compared to 71% the year before when we did flat discounts.
What we like to do at my company are short, unannounced markdown sales at random times when we need to clear stock. We don't put them around the "usual" sales prices and do them only when needed. There's no pre-announcement and no repeated promotion. This is a nice surprise for customers who happen to be buying and those who aren't actively shopping probably don't know it happened. Customers know that our sales end quickly and don't come at a certain time so they stop waiting and buy full price. This approach has worked very well for my company, Mannequin Mall.
We plan end-of-season markdowns so they support our core message that value comes from materials, make, and longevity, not inflated status pricing. That means we keep pricing steady through the season and use a single, clearly defined end-of-season window to clear remaining units, rather than running frequent promotions that teach customers to wait. We also communicate the reasons for pricing in plain terms, so shoppers understand what they are paying for beyond a logo or hype. The best balance has come from limiting discounting to that brief, predictable period and keeping the focus on quality and timeless design the rest of the year.
I plan end-of-season markdowns by prioritizing cash flow through disciplined inventory management. A mentor on Savile Row taught me that cash flow matters more than short-term profit, and that lesson shapes every markdown decision. That means keeping inventory lean and making conservative, measured reductions only when necessary so we do not rely on heavy discounts to move stock. Timing and pricing are guided by inventory levels and cash flow needs rather than a fixed calendar, which helps avoid training shoppers to wait for deals.
To clear stock without teaching customers to always wait, I focus on a clearly defined, time-bound sale window instead of a long, open-ended markdown period. We communicate the window in plain language, explain what products are affected, and keep the message focused on what customers care about, including affordability, lead times, and that our materials standards remain the same. The best balance for us has been honoring the current lower price only through that stated window, then moving to the new regular price right after. That approach creates urgency without running constant discounts, and it helps customers feel confident about buying when they are ready.
I plan end-of-season markdowns by telling customers why and when prices will change before they reach checkout. I give advance notice so customers can choose to buy at the current price, which avoids the perception that price moves are sudden. That transparency has been the most effective single move for balancing clearing stock with keeping customers from always waiting for deals. It also sets clear expectations and helps maintain long-term customer trust.
Retailers we work with get the best results when markdowns are tied to store layout changes, not just price drops. Moving clearance stock into high-visibility areas like aisle ends or promotional bays creates urgency without signalling that everything will be discounted. One approach that works well is staggered markdowns. Start with smaller reductions while improving visibility through better merchandising, then increase discounts only on remaining slow movers. That balance protects margin while still clearing stock efficiently.
Stop calling them "sales." That single word trains customers to wait. We work with a men's underwear brand that was stuck in a cycle of 40% end-of-season discounts. Their repeat customers had learned the pattern and would literally wait 6 weeks after a new collection dropped to buy at markdown. Revenue was predictable but margins were getting destroyed. The move that broke the cycle: we replaced percentage-off markdowns with bundle deals that only existed during clearance. Instead of "40% off boxer briefs," we created a "Stock Up Pack" where buying 5 pairs of last-season colors got you 2 current-season pairs free. The per-unit discount was actually similar (around 35%), but the psychology was completely different. Why it worked. Shoppers could not compare the bundle price to regular price in their heads the same way they compare "60% of 299 MAD" to the full price. There was no reference point to anchor a "waiting game" around. And the bundles moved 2x the units per transaction compared to traditional markdowns. The timing rule was also critical. We never marked down within 90 days of launch. Ever. If it sat for 90 days at full price, it went into bundles. If it sat for 120 days unbundled, it moved to a private "members only" clearance page that required an email signup to access. That private clearance page became its own acquisition channel. People signed up to get access, which gave us their email, which let us market new full-price collections to them later. We turned a margin problem into a list-building tool. Last-season clearance now accounts for about 12% of revenue instead of the old 25%, and the margin on those sales is 8 points higher than the old flat-discount approach.
Site-wide clearance events that have broad discounts can kill your margins. By blasting "50% off" to everyone, you aren't just clearing out inventory; you're also teaching your most profitable customers to wait for future purchases and never pay full price! The secret to success is to move from public markdowns to segmented "invisible" inventory movement. The best results happen when we move from broad discounts to personalized low-friction bundles instead of lowering the price of an item. We build exclusive "last chance" bundles for segmented lists of consumers who browsed similar products but did not purchase them. This keeps the perceived value of the bundle high, as it feels earned and not expected. The best balance between timing and pricing is established by creating pre-emptive nudges. If you wait until the end of a season to panic sell your inventory, you have lost! We look for slow moving items based on sales history and identify them 30 days before the close of the season. At that time, we send out personalized communication to help create demand for those slow moving items without ever posting a store-wide clearance banner. This removes empty shelves, helps maintain brand equity, and prevents your loyal customers from becoming deal hunters. There is a lot of pressure to meet or beat end of the year sales goals, but typically, short term wins do not justify the fact that you are training your customers to wait. To find the right balance of your inventory, you must take a data-driven approach to how you promote your products instead of solely relying on the calendar. Ultimately, the best way to move your inventory is to be able to create a perception of value to your customers instead of price.
We learned this the hard way when I was running my e-commerce brand. First year, we did the classic Black Friday blowout - 40% off everything. Sales exploded. Then January came and revenue fell off a cliff because we'd trained customers to never buy at full price. Cost us probably $80K in margin that quarter alone. Here's what actually worked: tiered clearance that felt exclusive, not desperate. We'd start at 15% off for email subscribers only, no site-wide banner screaming SALE. Two weeks later, 25% off but only on specific SKUs we were actively trying to clear. The key was making it look like inventory management, not panic. Because that's what it was. The timing move that delivered the best balance? We stopped doing end-of-season markdowns at predictable times. Everyone expects swimwear discounts in August. So we'd start clearing summer inventory in mid-July with small, targeted promos to our best customers. By the time competitors were slashing prices, we'd already moved 60% of aging stock at much healthier margins. One thing I see brands mess up constantly - they discount too deep too fast. If you've got 500 units to clear, don't put all 500 at 50% off on day one. Start with 100 units at 20% off. Sell through in three days? You priced it wrong, go back to full price on the rest. Take a week to move them? Drop another batch to 30% off. This creates urgency without the race to the bottom. The other piece is bundling instead of discounting. When we had excess inventory of lower-margin items, we'd bundle them with new releases at a package price that felt like a deal but protected our flagship product pricing. Customers got value, we moved old stock, and we didn't devalue our brand. Your best customers should never see your deepest discounts. They'll buy at 15% off because they actually want the product. Save the 40% off for acquisition, not retention.
One thing I've learned managing seasonal stock, especially with footwear and blister kits, is that if you discount too early or too heavily, you train customers to hold off. Early on, I made that mistake and saw repeat buyers waiting for sales instead of purchasing when they needed the product. What worked better was holding full price through peak demand, then using shorter, targeted markdown windows rather than long, drawn-out sales. I also kept discounts moderate and tied them to specific stock that needed clearing, not the whole range. My view is that timing matters more than the size of the discount. The best balance came from clearing slower lines after peak season while protecting bestsellers at full price. The practical takeaway is to plan your markdowns around demand cycles, not just leftover stock, and stay consistent so customers don't second-guess your pricing.
End-of-season markdowns tend to backfire when customers learn there is always a deeper discount if they wait. The shift that worked best was moving away from one big clearance event and instead using controlled, early adjustments tied to inventory velocity. A practical approach was marking down slow-moving items by 15 to 20 percent about three weeks before the season ended, while keeping bestsellers at full price until the final window. At Mano Santa, this created a split where customers still felt urgency on popular items, while slower inventory started clearing without drawing too much attention. The timing mattered more than the discount size. Once everything drops at once, shoppers reset their expectations and delay future purchases. Staggered pricing avoided that pattern because there was no clear signal that waiting would guarantee a better deal. A second adjustment came in the final 7 to 10 days, where remaining stock moved to a deeper discount, but only for limited quantities. That kept the clearance phase short and purposeful rather than predictable. The result was a cleaner sell-through without training customers to hold off. Revenue stayed more stable across the season because full-price sales did not collapse at the first sign of markdowns, and inventory still cleared in a controlled way.
I plan end-of-season markdowns around trust and predictability, because today's shoppers track prices across platforms and will wait if they sense a pattern of last-minute deep cuts. The goal is to be consistent and transparent about why a markdown is happening, so it reads as a clear end-of-season transition rather than a game. The timing move that best balances clearance and brand discipline is to start with a modest, clearly communicated reduction, then step down in planned phases instead of jumping straight to a steep discount. That approach protects full-price credibility while still giving shoppers a fair, reliable price signal. When pricing feels honest and consistent, shoppers are less likely to delay purchases just to "win" a bigger deal later.
I plan end-of-season markdowns by using smart inventory placement and treating every location as a potential fulfillment point rather than relying on blanket, deep discounts. By stocking fast-moving items closer to demand and using stores or micro-fulfillment centers, we improve sell-through and reduce the need for heavy markdowns. The timing move that has delivered the best balance is to stagger smaller, localized price reductions based on local sell-through rather than a single national markdown date. That lets us use shallower, targeted price moves late in the season while preserving full-price opportunities elsewhere.