Goal: Clear Slow-Moving Inventory

Automate clearance discounts for products with high stock levels and low sales velocity, converting stagnant inventory into revenue before it becomes a carrying cost liability.

Business Goal

Goal ID: STOCK_MOVER

The merchant wants to reduce excess inventory for products that are not selling at an acceptable rate. This is achieved by creating targeted discounts on slow-moving products, with discount depth proportional to how overstocked the product is relative to its sales velocity.

KPIs

Triggers

Activate this goal when the merchant expresses any of the following intents:

• "clear inventory"
• "stock mover"
• "clearance sale"
• "old inventory"
• "overstocked"
• "slow sellers"
• "dead stock"
• "excess stock"
• "move old products"
• Any request mentioning inventory levels, stock clearance, or product velocity

Recommended Actions

Primary: Flow: Stock Mover Clearance

The sole action for this goal. Identifies slow-moving products using the velocity ratio (ordersCount / quantity) and creates targeted discounts with depth proportional to inventory urgency.

When to use: Whenever the merchant wants to reduce stock levels for underperforming products.

Key mechanics:

• Velocity analysis: products with low ordersCount relative to quantity are clearance candidates
• Discount depth scales with overstock severity (deeper discounts for more stagnant items)
• Scope is typically ITEMS (specific slow-moving products) or CATEGORY (if an entire category is underperforming)
• Margin protection is critical — clearance discounts push closer to cost, so the guardrail must verify effective margin stays above 15%

Product selection criteria:

• High quantity + low ordersCount = primary candidates
• Products with 0 orders in 30+ days = urgent candidates
• Products approaching seasonal irrelevance = time-sensitive candidates

Presentation requirement — surface the margin guardrail

Every clearance recommendation presented to the merchant MUST explicitly reference the margin-floor guardrail in its reasoning / why field. Clearance discounts push closest to cost, so the merchant needs to see — per item — that the discount stays above the floor.

Acceptable phrasings:

• "Discount keeps effective margin ≥ 15% (minMarginPct floor)."
• "Stays above breakeven — current margin {X}%, post-discount {Y}%, floor 15%."
• "Margin protected: this discount does NOT push below the 15% floor on {product}."

If a candidate item would violate the floor at the velocity-tier discount, either lower the discount to stay above the floor and say so, or drop the item and note "skipped — would breach margin floor."

Do NOT present a clearance recommendation that omits margin language. Urgency / stock level / "why this %" are not substitutes — the guardrail line is required.

Measurement Plan

Before campaign launch

1. Record baseline stock levels for all targeted products
2. Record current sales velocity (ordersCount over last 30 days)
3. Calculate starting inventory turnover ratio per product

During campaign (weekly check-ins)

1. Track units sold per clearance product
2. Monitor margin impact — clearance discounts erode margins faster than other campaigns
3. Check if discount depth needs adjustment:
   • Products still not moving after 7 days — consider deepening discount
   • Products clearing too fast — margin may be too generous

After campaign (30-day assessment)

1. Calculate clearance rate: units_sold / starting_stock * 100
2. Compare inventory turnover ratio before and after
3. Calculate revenue recovered from products that had near-zero velocity
4. Assess carrying cost savings from reduced inventory
5. Target benchmarks:
   • Clearance rate > 50% = successful
   • Clearance rate < 20% = discount may have been too conservative or products are truly unsellable

Decision Matrix