Seasonal products: the cost of discounting too late

Pricing October 2026 · 5 min read

Winter coats, garden furniture, Christmas decorations: seasonal products have a window. Before it opens, nobody wants them. After it closes, nobody does. The money is made — or lost — in between.

How the problem builds up

Early in the season, sales look healthy, so nobody worries. Midway, a few sizes or colours slow down. Near the end, there's a pile of stock and a few weeks left. The discount needed to clear that pile is now large, and it costs far more margin than a small early reduction would have.

Why late discounts cost more

• Time pressure: you must clear a lot of stock in a short window.
• Customers learn: if you always discount at the end, they wait for the end.
• Fewer sizes left: the remaining stock is the least wanted, so it needs a bigger discount.
• Storage: unsold product occupies space for next season's range.

Treat a season as a plan with an end

Unlike everyday products, seasonal products shouldn't be endlessly replenished. The plan starts with how much you expect to sell over the whole season, shapes it week by week, and spreads the stock over time and locations. As the season progresses, you compare actual sales with the plan.

Act on early signals

1. Check sales against plan every week, not at the end.
2. If a product runs slow, a small price reduction early is usually cheaper than a deep one later.
3. If a product runs fast, move stock where it will sell and stop orders before you're left with leftovers.
4. Before changing a price, preview the effect on sales, stock and profit.

After the season

Record what happened: what sold, when, at what price. Next year's plan starts from real behaviour instead of memory. Over a few seasons, this one habit does more for margin than any single clever discount.

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