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Mark down, wisely

Markdown management has evolved. Retailers no longer need blanket discounts or end-of-season guesswork. Modern strategies focus on protecting margin and recovering revenue—pricing intentionally to reduce losses while maintaining customer appeal.

Invent.ai’s markdown solution uses AI to predict demand, calculate elasticity and account for regional and store-level variation. It times markdowns strategically, minimizes revenue loss and ensures products sell at the right price—boosting sell-through and improving visibility across the product lifecycle.

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Advanced AI-decisioning with scenario simulation drives more profitable, precisely timed markdown strategies

Learn from every markdown Learn from every markdown Learn from every markdown Learn from every markdown

By modeling elasticity, demand and inventory goals across tiers, regions and seasons, our platform helps retailers avoid blanket discounts and act with clarity. Whether clearing seasonal inventory or adjusting for store-level performance, our AI supports the right markdown decisions at the right time—protecting margin and improving sell-through.

Our platform enables retailers to:

01

Learn from every markdown

Use post-event KPIs and AI-generated insights to fine-tune future markdown strategies based on historical performance.

02

Simulate in real time

Run “what-if” scenarios and compare markdown strategies instantly to identify the most effective pricing paths.

03

Visibility across every price tier

Evaluate markdown performance across price levels, factoring in store, region and climate differences to enhance decision making.

04

Optimize seasonal profit

Align markdown timing and depth with demand patterns and inventory goals to protect margin throughout the season.

Why choose invent.ai for markdown optimization?

Invent.ai simplifies markdown management with AI-driven forecasts, real-time simulations and precision strategies tailored to each region and store. Our solution helps retailers reduce losses, maximize profit dollars and unlock inventory potential across the full lifecycle.

Built on advanced demand forecasting, the model incorporates statistically calibrated price elasticity, seasonality and special days to determine the optimal:

 

  • Depth – What should the markdown percentage be?
  • Timing – When should the discount be applied?
  • Cadence – How many times should each SKU be marked down?
The model also supports complex end-of-life pricing challenges, including chain-wide clearance and expiring product markdowns.

 

Why choose invent.ai for markdown optimization

The science behind it

The markdown solution automatically recommends end-of-life markdowns (for clearance or seasonal products) based on:
  • Estimated product price elasticity
  • Sales projections across multiple price steps
  • Maximized clearance margin, factoring in salvage value (not COGS)
Invent.ai analyzes multiple forecast models to select the most accurate one, then uses demand forecasting and constraints to predict how markdown level and timing will affect demand.
Markdowns - forecast models
Dynamic markdown estimates combine price and timing, factoring in competitor price elasticity through an insight-driven dashboard.

You can review markdown results at a high level to evaluate performance and guide next steps.
Product screen illustrations - Irem
Drill down for detailed insights and compare future scenarios side by side. The markdown solution offers forward-looking visibility and lets users evaluate alternative strategies based on rules, constraints and desired outcomes—then approve the best-fit option.
Markdowns - future scenarios

AI-driven markdown strategy to move product and grow revenue

Use AI to optimize markdown depth, timing and coordination—boosting revenue while minimizing loss. Invent.ai empowers retailers with real-time insights, scenario planning and product-level precision to make confident, data-informed markdown decisions.

  • AI-powered margin optimization - Optimize markdown depth and timing with AI to protect margin, reduce markdown loss and improve sell-through.
  • Enhanced visibility and planning - Monitor seasonal and end-of-season sales and inventory levels in real time to support better forecasting and planning.
  • Product-specific insights - Estimate elasticity and cannibalization using detailed product attributes to guide effective markdown decisions.
  • Integrated strategic planning - Align markdown strategies with promotional efforts and run “what-if” scenarios to evaluate pricing outcomes and improve results.

“Invent.ai's Markdown Optimization solution optimized our markdown path through the season and directly improved our margin and end-of-season sell-through. Invent.ai's Markdown Optimization showed significant impact on our financial KPIs starting from the first day of the implementation.”

Hakan Ugur, Chief Merchandising Officer, Flo

Read the case study

“For us, one of the most appealing parts of working with invent.ai is their gradual approach to inventory management. In addition, invent.ai’s continuous support approach makes a huge difference in our business.”

Batur Can, General Manager, Fiba Retail Group

Read the case study

“Invent.ai found price increases we would have never seen, kept us from stale promotions and improved our store traffic and margins without a doubt.”

Larry Voight, CFO, Famous Footwear

FAQ

Understanding markdowns in retail

In retail, markdowns are strategic price reductions used to time, price and clear products, while aiming to protect revenue and gross margin. Modern markdown management, powered by invent.ai, has evolved from relying on blanket discounts or end-of-season guesswork to focusing on protecting margins and recovering revenue. This is achieved by pricing intentionally to reduce losses, maintain customer appeal and ensure products sell at the right price throughout their lifecycle.

Invent.ai's markdown solution uses AI to predict demand, calculate elasticity and account for regional and store-level variation. It times markdowns strategically, minimizes revenue loss and ensures products sell at the right price—boosting sell-through and improving visibility across the product lifecycle.

Invent.ai supports numerous strategies including clearance, seasonal, loss leaders, end-of-life, dynamic pricing, competitive and promotional. Plans can be established in advance and localized by store attributes. The system can incorporate tactics like BOGO-style incentives and event-driven adjustments, aligning with the goal to protect margins and recover revenue. This approach mirrors industry best practices noted in top competitors while leveraging invent.ai demand and elasticity modeling.

Invent.ai accounts for regional and store-level variation by design, enabling localization of markdown timing and pricing. It recognizes that end-of-season risk, shopper sentiment and regional demand can differ dramatically.

Competitors emphasize different angles (e.g., lifecycle clearance, rapid event-based adjustments or end-of-life clearance). Invent.ai unifies AI-driven demand forecasting with price elasticity modeling, automated markdown planning, and integrated planning visibility to reduce manual processes and pricing inconsistencies. Our method emphasizes protecting margins while recovering revenue, rather than relying on blanket discounts or siloed decision-making.

Start by mapping current pain points (manual inventories, forecasting gaps, siloed decisions) to our automated capabilities: AI-driven demand and elasticity modeling, real-time inventory optimization, automated markdown planning and integrated planning visibility.

Invent.ai's markdown solution uses AI to predict demand, calculate elasticity and account for regional and store-level variation. It times markdowns strategically, minimizes revenue loss and ensures products sell at the right price—boosting sell-through and improving visibility across the product lifecycle. Unlike blanket-discount approaches, the system enables automated markdown planning and localization, so you can treat each item, store and event as its own scenario.

The system explicitly supports planning, segmentation and allocation to replace siloed decision-making with integrated visibility. It enables real-time inventory optimization and cross-functional coordination, helping teams move from manual steps to automated markdown planning.

More revenue. Better margins.
Get pricing right. Every time.

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