1. [Home]() 2. [Use cases]() 3. Margin-aware markdowns [Merchandising & commercial planning]() # Plan markdowns around stock, demand and margin. Broad discounts clear stock without showing the margin trade-off. Trigger Season-end review or slow-moving inventory threshold. Compare the economics before changing the price Illustrative example Option Price and contribution per unit Commercial decision Hold Price $100; modeled contribution $54 Keep the price if demand supports the remaining selling window 20% markdown Price $80; modeled contribution $36 Consider for aged stock if the expected sell-through justifies it 30% markdown Price $70; modeled contribution $27 Requires approval because it falls below the $30 contribution floor Example calculation: $28 landed cost, $8 fulfillment and fees at 10% of price. Excludes returns, tax and fixed overhead; sell-through is not a forecast result. **What you get**SKU-level markdown scenarios with stock, demand and contribution trade-offs, followed by approved price updates. [Discuss this use case]() [How it works]() Led by operators with 15+ years building commerce products, teams and systems. [About us]() ## Today A broad sale applies the same discount to products with different stock age, demand and cost. ## With this in place Merchandisers compare hold, bundle and markdown options by SKU. Approved offers are published with margin floors and a review point. ## Who does what, step by step. ### Your team Merchandising and finance decide whether to hold, bundle or discount and authorize the offer. ### AI AI explains why a SKU is a candidate and summarizes scenario trade-offs from the supplied evidence. ### Automation Rules calculate contribution, check price floors and publish only approved channel updates. 01 02 03 04 05 1. 01 Step 1: Automation ### Find the stock that needs a decision Refresh stock age, demand and remaining selling time; separate a temporary slowdown from an exit-stock problem. 2. 02 Step 2: Automation ### Calculate viable scenarios Compare hold, bundle and discount options using explicit price, cost and fee calculations. Show sensitivity to expected sell-through. 3. 03 Step 3: AI ### Explain the recommendation AI summarizes the relevant product and trading context, with links to assumptions and source evidence. 4. 04 Step 4: Your team ### Approve the offer Merchandising and finance choose the eligible products, price floors, duration and review point. 5. 05 Step 5: Automation ### Publish and revisit Send approved prices to the selected channels, verify the live offer and compare actual contribution and sell-through with the scenario. ### Guardrails - Unit economics are calculated from explicit cost and fee inputs, not generated by a language model. - Scenario demand is an assumption; show downside cases alongside the proposed offer. - Authorized owners approve pricing and publication. Stop updates that violate a margin floor or channel rule. ## What a first project includes. A bounded first build around your systems and team. We agree the scope, fee and baseline before we start. [Scope this with us]() [How we work together]() Sample scope Margin-aware markdowns ### We build - A SKU-level scenario calculator connected to current stock, price and cost records - An approval workflow for offer scope, price floors and channel exclusions - Controlled channel price updates and a contribution/sell-through readout ### We start from - Current prices, landed costs, channel fees and expected fulfillment costs - Available and aged stock, recent demand and seasonal exit dates - Promotion exclusions, minimum contribution and approval limits ### From your team Owner - Merchandising Lead - Commercial Director Involves - Merchandising - Planning - Finance - Supply chain - Growth Access to these systems and real examples to test against. ### Adapts to - Omnichannel retail - Wholesale - International commerce ### We’d measure - Realized contribution after discounts, fees and fulfillment - Sell-through and aged stock by comparable product group - Price exceptions and time from approved offer to verified publication Baselines agreed before we build. ## Questions teams ask. Do we need to replace our current tools? Usually not. We start with the systems you already use and build only what’s missing. Typical connections: Your commerce platform, ERP, planning spreadsheets, pricing and promotion tools. Who owns it once it’s running? Your team does. You own the agreed deliverables under the engagement terms, with documentation and training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your merchandising lead or commercial director. Ongoing support is optional and agreed separately. How do we get started? If the problem and scope are already clear, we can scope this build directly. If you’re weighing it against other priorities, start with Discovery & Action Plan. Its fee is credited in full if we build the recommended work. [How discovery works]() ## Often paired with. Part of [Commercial and supply planning]() [All use cases]() - Supply chain & fulfillment ### Demand & replenishment planning Stock decisions are based on stale forecasts or disconnected spreadsheets. Demand forecasts, reorder proposals and cash requirements kept current as trading and supply change. [Demand & replenishment planning]() - Merchandising & commercial planning ### Promotion orchestration Offer details and dependencies diverge across teams and channels. Connected offer rules, briefs and channel tasks that respond to changes and keep approval status visible. [Identify affected work]() - Finance & business intelligence ### The weekly trading brief Leaders receive dashboards but still have to assemble the narrative and next steps. A sourced trading brief with decisions, action owners and follow-through. [Revenue grew; contribution weakened]() More connected work ## Explore the programs - [Merchandising & commercial planning]() - [Supply chain & fulfillment]() - [Finance & business intelligence]() ## Browse by outcome - [Improve margin and cash flow]() - [Convert and retain more customers]() ## Clear stock without giving away margin. Start with one category’s aged stock. [Discuss this use case]() [**Talk through markdowns**15 minutes]() [Prefer to start with discovery? →]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/margin-aware-markdowns/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)