Move stock before markdown is the only option left
A 9-store streetwear brand turned twice-a-season panic transfers into a calm weekly lever — moving stock six weeks before markdown was the only answer left.
Outcome
+€42k margin / season
Network
9 stores · streetwear
Measured outcomes
+€42k
Margin protected per season
−28%
End-of-season residual stock
+4 weeks
Transfer window opened earlier
What's wired up
Systems connected
Merchandising system
Sell-through · 9 stores
Store stock
On-hand per store · daily
Warehouse
Transfer logistics
Before · After
Before
Everyone saw it, nobody moved it
By week 8 of every drop, bestsellers sold out where demand was and full racks sat where it wasn't. The data showed it, but organising a transfer meant four separate spreadsheets — so transfers only happened twice a season, in panic mode.
After
A calm weekly lever
Solya watches sell-through, stock cover and store capacity across the nine stores every day. When a SKU diverges, it proposes a transfer with the right quantity, destination and window — and the lead approves a ranked list every Monday.
The challenge
The brand ran a drop-driven calendar: three launches a season, strong hype on flagship stores, slower curves elsewhere. By week 8 of every drop the picture was clear — bestsellers sold out where demand was, full racks sat where it wasn't.
The team knew it and the data showed it. But by the time someone organised the logistics, week 12 had arrived and markdown was already on the calendar.
Inter-store transfers were a manual headache, so they rarely happened. Picking which SKU to move, from which store to which, meant pulling store-level sell-through, cross-referencing stock, factoring capacity and coordinating the warehouse — each step a different spreadsheet. So transfers happened twice a season, in panic mode, at the worst possible time.
What we changed
Solya analyses sell-through, stock cover and store capacity across the nine stores every day, all wired through its data layer. The merchandising lead, who could orchestrate it all but had a hundred other things to do, stopped being the single point of coordination.
What used to be a season-end emergency twice a year became a calm weekly lever.
How decisions get made
When a SKU diverges — selling out in store A while sitting as dead stock in store B — Solya flags it within 48 hours. It proposes a transfer with the right quantity, destination and window, leaving safety stock at the source and respecting receiving-store capacity.
Every Monday the lead reviews a curated list ordered by margin impact. Each row shows the why: the divergence pattern, the expected outcome and a confidence score. Most weeks, half the list is approved as-is.
Where it lands
Approved transfers flow straight to warehouse logistics and ship by Thursday, through Solya's orchestration layer. Solya then logs the outcome to retune the model for the next divergence.
Stock now moves six weeks before markdown is the only answer left.
What changed
- +€42k margin protected per season
- End-of-season residual stock down 28%
- Transfer window opened four weeks earlier — a weekly cadence, not twice a season
Related: pair this with continuous replenishment to keep stock balanced upstream, or with AI agents on markdown and transfers when execution itself goes agent-driven.
More use cases
A seasonal buy plan, signed off in one review
A 14-store apparel buyer had to cut next season's open-to-buy by 12% — and built a sharper plan on two years of live sell-through instead of intuition.
Allocation that finally knows the network
A 14-store apparel network still split each season with a rule written when it had 8 stores. Solya re-allocated on what every store had actually become.
One feed for every alert that matters
An outdoor retailer's ops director triaged alerts across five channels. Solya gave her one prioritised feed — and 20 minutes back every Monday.
From the blog
What is WSSI? Weekly sales, stock & intake planning
WSSI — weekly sales, stock and intake — is the weekly heartbeat of merchandise planning. It sets the financial frame, but it doesn't make the decisions.
Retail ERP vs a decision layer: what each does
A retail ERP is your system of record — it runs the transactions. It doesn't decide the SKU/store moves. That's a different layer, and often a missing one.
What does a retail merchandiser do? Role and skills
A retail merchandiser decides what a store sells, how much, and at what price. It's a decision job — and the decisions now outnumber the hours to make them.