How do I create a retail markdown schedule?

List every price period as a row: start date, weeks in the period, discount depth, resulting ticket price, expected weekly sell-through, units sold, revenue, and units remaining at the end. Anchor the last row on your season exit date and check that the remaining units at that point are at or below your ending-stock target.

What columns does a markdown schedule template need?

At minimum: period label, start date, weeks, discount %, ticket price, weekly sell-through %, units sold, revenue, cumulative markdown dollars, and units remaining. Add a target ending-units line and a maintained margin line at the bottom, or the schedule has nothing to be judged against.

What formulas go in a markdown planning spreadsheet?

Ticket price = original × (1 − depth). Units sold in a period = units at period start × (1 − (1 − weekly sell-through)^weeks). Revenue = units sold × ticket price. Maintained margin = (total revenue − units sold × cost) ÷ total revenue. Erosion = initial margin − maintained margin, in points.

Is a spreadsheet or a calculator better for markdown planning?

A spreadsheet is good for documenting an agreed plan and circulating it. It is poor at comparing alternatives, because each what-if means duplicating a sheet and re-entering assumptions. Use the calculator to decide the cadence and the template to record and share it.

How many rows should the schedule have?

One row per price period, which usually means three to five rows including full price. More stages rarely change the outcome materially and mainly add ticketing labor.

Can I export this schedule from the planner?

Yes. The free calculator exports the price periods and summary rows to CSV, which drops straight into the column layout below, and produces a shareable link that encodes every input. Printable decision memos and saved plans are part of Pro.

Retail markdown schedule template

A markdown schedule is one row per price period, ending on your season exit date, with an ending-units target to judge it against. Below is the column layout, the formulas that belong in each calculated column, and a filled seasonal example you can copy into a spreadsheet — or skip the sheet and model the cadence directly.

Build the schedule interactively Markdown planning process

The template, column by column

Every column is either an input you decide or a formula that follows from it. Keep depth measured against the original ticket rather than the previous price — successive percentages compound and quietly make the plan deeper than intended.

Markdown schedule template columns

Column	Type	What goes in it
Period	Text	Full price, First markdown, Second markdown, Clearance
Start date	Date	First day the price is live
Weeks	Number	Weeks until the next break or the season exit date
Depth %	Number	Reduction off the original ticket, not off the previous price
Ticket price	Formula	= original × (1 − depth)
Weekly sell-through %	Number	Share of remaining units sold each week at this price
Units sold	Formula	= units at start × (1 − (1 − rate)^weeks)
Revenue	Formula	= units sold × ticket price
Markdown $	Formula	= units sold × (original − ticket price)
Units remaining	Formula	= units at start − units sold

Filled example: 858 units, $18.00 cost, $49.00 ticket

A 14-week autumn season with three breaks. Ending-units target: 50. Result: 33 units left, $28,625 recovered, 45.9% maintained margin against a 63.3% initial margin — 17.4 points of erosion.

Seasonal markdown schedule example

Period	Start	Weeks	Depth	Ticket	Weekly ST	Units sold	Revenue	Units left
Full price	Sep 1	4	0%	$49.00	12%	182	$8,918	676
First markdown	Sep 29	4	20%	$39.20	10%	247	$9,682	429
Second markdown	Oct 27	3	40%	$29.40	22%	231	$6,791	198
Clearance	Nov 17	3	60%	$19.60	45%	165	$3,234	33

Figures produced by the Planned Markdown model from the sell-through rates shown. Substitute your own weekly rates — they are the assumption that moves every other column.

Also useful

Two more layouts worth keeping

Clearance calendar

One row per season week, one column per class, with the price action in the cell. Good for coordinating ticketing labor, signage, and floor space across several categories at once.

Scenario comparison sheet

One column per candidate cadence and one row per output: maintained margin, ending units, cash recovered, markdown dollars. This is the sheet the markdown meeting actually argues over, and it is what the calculator's scenario table produces directly.

Where a spreadsheet stops helping

A sheet documents one plan well. It compares plans badly: each what-if means duplicating the tab, re-entering assumptions, and hoping the formulas came along. It also hides the demand guess — a single sell-through number per period reads as certainty when it is an estimate with a wide band around it.

That is the gap the interactive planner fills: the same columns, plus a sell-through assumption you can flex up and down to see the slow, planned, and fast outcomes side by side.

Keep planning

The interactive alternative to this template
Same structure, plus scenario comparison, sensitivity band, and CSV export in the layout above.
Retail markdown formulas
Every formula in the template, written out with worked numbers.
End-of-season markdown strategy
How to size the final row so the season actually exits clean.
Retail markdown planning
The process and calendar the template is meant to record.

Answers

Markdown template questions

Skip the spreadsheet rebuild

Enter the season once, compare cadences side by side, and export the finished schedule to CSV in the column layout above.

Open the markdown planner