How to use the inventory clearance discount calculator
When a season winds down the question is how deep a cut it takes to move the units you still hold. This calculator turns stock and your sell-through target into a unit goal, measures the gap against what you would sell at full price over the same window, and divides the required lift by your own lift-per-point figure to get the discount needed.
The key input is unit lift per point of discount. That is price elasticity, and it differs by product, season, and channel, so no default is supplied. Pull it from your own promo history: if a 10-point cut lifted units 70%, that is 7% per point. Leave the field empty and the calculator stops with a prompt instead of guessing.
The discount is rounded up to whole points, and the unit goal is rounded up too. Rounding down could leave you short of the target, so both go the direction that keeps "cut at least this much and the target is reached" true. The model assumes lift scales with the discount, so very shallow and very deep cuts may behave differently in practice.
Frequently asked questions
Take it from your own past promotions. If a 10-point discount lifted units 70% over the same window, that is 7% per point. Price elasticity varies by product, season, and channel, so this calculator ships no default value.
With the lift you entered, even giving the product away would not reach the sell-through target. Lower the target, or add levers other than price such as more impressions, bundles, or a longer promo window.