End-of-season sales are the only period when your reverse logistics matters as much as your forward — discounted stock flies out, sizing guesses fly back, and the margin you cleared inventory for evaporates if the return lane isn't as ready as the outbound one.
The two-direction problem
A clearance week generates a return wave ~10 days later — meaning you're simultaneously packing new orders at record volume and receiving, QC-ing and restocking returns at record volume. Sellers who staff only for the outbound wave drown in the second one.
The discount→return math
Deep discounts inflate return rates — the 70%-off buyer is more speculative than the full-price buyer. If your category normally returns at 20%, clearance might push 30%+. Price that into whether the clearance clears margin at all.
Exchange > return
Every exchange is a return that didn't refund — proactive size-exchange offers convert ~30-40% of returns into kept sales at many apparel sellers. The shipping cost of an exchange is cheaper than the margin loss of a refund.
The liquidation floor
Some clearance inventory is cheaper to liquidate than to sell-ship-return — a ₹200 item with ₹130 two-way freight exposure is inventory already lost. Know your break-even price point below which 'free shipping' is a trap.
Pure Parcel is the shipping layer sellers build this on — every courier, one wallet, per-order rates.
See how →The playbook
Staff the return wave too
Day-10 returns need as much bench as day-1 orders.
Offer exchanges proactively
An exchange saves the sale; a return loses it — offer the former first.
Price returns into clearance margins
A 70% discount on a 30%-return category may not clear profit.
Set the liquidation floor
Below the freight×return-risk threshold, liquidate don't list.
