Markdown and clearance pricing on Shopify

Clearance and markdown sales often need prices to step down over days or weeks, not a single 40% drop on day one. Merchants describe this as progressive markdowns, rolling clearance, or “lower the price every few days until it moves.”

Search terms overlap with scheduling sale prices and flash events—but the job here is inventory velocity with controlled margin, not a one-hour flash.

When stepped pricing helps

• Seasonal clearance where you want urgency without one massive margin hit on day one
• Category wind-downs with many SKUs at different velocities
• Tests to find price elasticity while staying above a floor

When a single discount is enough

• Short events (24–72 hours) with uniform messaging
• Small catalogs where manual bulk edits are feasible
• Promotions driven entirely by codes rather than variant price changes

Risks specific to markdown campaigns

1. Each step must respect your floor—especially if discount codes still run
2. Compare-at messaging can mislead if compare-at is not updated consistently in Admin (PriceWave does not automate compare-at)
3. Stuck steps—a mid-clearance price that never advances or never reverts when inventory hits zero
4. Wrong SKUs entering the clearance wave

Product Shield keeps a product out of new sequences until you remove the shield. It does not cancel sequences already using that product and does not block Shopify discounts. Use it for MAP/hero exclusions before you build the ladder.

If codes run during clearance: rehearse with the Simulator (Supernova) on draft/scheduled waves, and use Discount Safety (Nova and above) while the wave is active.

Building a stepped clearance in PriceWave

PriceWave sequences use compound steps with a hard floor enforced before every write, then revert to originals on complete, cancel, or budget end.

Operational extras that matter on long clearances:

• Product Shield for SKUs that must not enter the sequence
• Stuck / write-failed ops alerts (every plan) when a PriceWave write didn’t stick
• External-price Watchdog (Nova and above) if Admin or another app edits list price during an active wave
• Budget caps (Galaxy and above) — hit cap → sequence ends and prices revert
• Tagged discount lifecycle sync (Galaxy and above) — on successful complete (including budget end), deactivate tagged Active discounts (codes + automatics). Untagged discounts are not shut off automatically
• Simulator (Supernova) — rehearse ladder + stacks before go-live (draft/scheduled)

Checklist before you start clearance

• Floor margin per category documented
• List of excluded SKUs (MAP, partners, bundles) — shield them before building
• End state: what happens to list prices when clearance ends or inventory hits zero
• Campaign tag if you will use lifecycle sync for codes/automatics
• Who verifies Admin after each step / at end
• Post-event verification plan (stuck prices)
• Compare-at cleanup owned in Admin if you use “was/now” badges

Floors block sequence steps that would write below your minimum list price. They do not stop a checkout from going lower if discount codes or automatic discounts still stack—use Discount Safety (Nova+) on live waves and the Simulator (Supernova) before launch.

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Model stepped clearance with floors: Install PriceWave or read the PriceWave overview.