Coats are discounted while it is still cold and swimwear is reduced in high summer. The timing follows the delivery calendar rather than the weather outside.
The floor is committed to the next delivery
Apparel retailers work to a buying calendar set many months ahead, with deliveries arriving on fixed dates regardless of how the current season has sold.
When the next shipment arrives, the space it needs is already spoken for. Whatever occupies that space has to move, and price is the only lever that works quickly.
The markdown therefore begins when the incoming stock is close, not when demand for the outgoing product has finished.
Full price sells early, not late
The buyers willing to pay the most for a seasonal garment buy it at the start of the season, when the choice is complete and the need is anticipated.
Once that demand has been served, the remaining shoppers are more price-sensitive by definition, and holding the original price sells progressively fewer units.
Retailers plan for this. A season's margin is calculated across full-price and marked-down sales together rather than assuming everything sells at the ticket.
Carrying stock across a year is expensive
Holding unsold seasonal clothing until the following year means storing it, financing it and hoping the styling still reads as current twelve months later.
Storage and capital costs are certain while next year's appeal is not, so most retailers prefer a reduced sale now to a speculative one later.
Basic items without strong styling are the exception, which is why plain garments reappear season after season while trend pieces do not.
Markdowns run on a schedule
Reductions usually happen in stages, with a first cut that tests demand, a second that broadens it and a final clearance that empties the remainder.
Each stage is triggered by how much stock remains against a planned sell-through rate, so the pace differs by item even within one department.
A garment still at its first markdown is selling adequately. One that has jumped several stages quickly did not.
What the timing tells a shopper
Buying at the first markdown trades a smaller discount for a complete size range, while waiting for deeper cuts trades choice for price.
Which is better depends entirely on how specific your requirement is, since the sizes and colours that sell fastest disappear long before the largest reductions arrive.
Shoppers with common sizes generally do better buying earlier in the sequence, while unusual sizes often survive to the end at the lowest prices.