Retail Markdown Cadence Calculator
Plan a staged retail markdown cadence — successive percent-off steps from full price to clearance — and see the final price, cumulative discount and margin at each stage.
How it works
Stage price = full price × (1 − stage markdown %) · Margin at stage = (stage price − cost) ÷ stage price × 100 · Break-even markdown = (1 − cost ÷ price) × 100
Retail markdown cadence is the pre-planned schedule of price cuts that walks slow-selling stock from full price to clearance over a season. Each stage is a percentage off the original ticket, so the calculator shows both the shelf price and the margin left at every step — and the break-even markdown, the point where the price equals your cost. Setting the cadence in advance keeps clearance disciplined: you sell through on a timetable instead of guessing, and you know before the first cut how deep you can go before a sale loses money.
Worked example
A $60 item costing $24 breaks even at a 60% markdown ($24). A 25% first cut brings it to $45 (47% margin), a 40% cut to $36 (33% margin), and a final 60% clearance to $24 — exactly cost, zero margin — clearing the unit without a loss.
Frequently asked questions
How are staged markdowns different from one big sale?
A cadence takes the highest price the market will bear at each moment, capturing full-price and lightly-discounted sales before resorting to deep cuts. One big markdown leaves that margin on the table by discounting everyone equally, including shoppers who would have paid more.
What is the break-even markdown?
It is the percent off at which the sale price equals your unit cost, computed as (1 − cost ÷ price). Beyond it every additional percent off is sold at a loss — useful to know as the floor before you plan a clearance step.
Are these markdowns off the original price or the last price?
This calculator takes each stage as a percentage off the original full price, which is how most retail markdown plans and signage are expressed. Chaining discounts off the previous marked-down price would reach a lower final number for the same headline percentages.
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Educational estimate, not financial advice.