Sell, Sale, Sell: Holiday Inventory Planning

Holiday season is not just about pushing new products. It is also the perfect time to finally let go of the items that have been sitting in your warehouse, stockroom or garage like they are paying rent. We all have those SKUs. The ones that feel like guests that overstayed the party. The discontinued color you thought would be a trend. The seasonal scent that turned out to be less pumpkin spice latte and more mystery basement. The sizes everyone either grew out of or skipped entirely. Yes. Those.

And the holidays are the moment to move them.

Not by hiding them behind the new arrivals. Not by pretending they are special. The trick is: this is the one time of year customers are already in the mood to find deals. You do not have to convince them to shop. They are already here. All you have to do is guide them to the products that deserve a graceful exit.

This is where inventory planning becomes more strategic than simply ordering new stock. It becomes about knowing what needs to shine and what needs to gently leave the stage.

Once November begins, the buyer mindset changes. People start looking for gifts with meaning, practical add-ons, thoughtful finishing touches. They are no longer shopping only for themselves. They are shopping to fill, complete, match, contribute, surprise, or simply show they tried. And this shift gives slower inventory a new role. What once had to stand on its own as a “main purchase” can now succeed as the piece that completes another gift. A product that felt unremarkable suddenly becomes the element that makes the present feel intentional.

But discounting alone is not a strategy. And this is where pricing history matters. Amazon recently reminded sellers about the importance of this in holiday planning:

“The Was Price (also called Typical Price) is the median price customers have paid for a product over the last 90 days. If a product is frequently on promotion, those promotional prices are included in the calculation. This means the Was Price is dynamic and will change over time as a product’s pricing history evolves.”

Meaning: if you discount something too often, the sale price becomes the real price. Your big holiday discount no longer looks like a deal. And this principle applies even if you do not sell on Amazon, because customers behave the same way everywhere. Constant discounts teach people to wait, not to buy.

So the real strategy begins by understanding the lifecycle of a product. Every item has a peak when it sells easily, a plateau when it sells steadily, and a decline where it needs help. Most retailers wait too long to let go during the decline because it feels like admitting something didn’t perform. But the holidays flip that emotional hesitation. Suddenly the product you’ve been ignoring for months becomes valuable simply because the context of buying has changed.

To take advantage of that, you need to position these slower items in a way that makes sense with what is selling best right now. Customers rarely evaluate a product in isolation. They see it in context: how it’s displayed, what it’s paired with, what mood or moment it suggests. A candle that sat untouched in October is not suddenly a better candle in December. But place it next to a soft throw blanket, a holiday mug, or a cozy scene of warm lighting and it instantly reads as part of a winter ritual. A dress with awkward sizing that no one committed to in September transforms when styled with festive jewelry, soft curls, and a caption about holiday parties and New Year’s Eve dinners. It becomes less about the practical fit and more about the imagined moment of wearing it. The toy that felt insignificant on a plain product page becomes charming when positioned as the final touch to a larger gift. In other words, the product hasn’t changed at all. What has changed is the emotional environment the customer is viewing it in.

People love feeling like they are getting something extra. Your older inventory can be the extra.

This is why the holiday season is not about hiding older stock in clearance corners. It is about integrating it into the story your store is telling right now. A product should leave your catalog with dignity, not desperation. When you frame it as intentional and seasonal, customers understand why it exists and why it is priced the way it is. They do not question the discount they accept it as part of the holiday rhythm.

Another key strategic moment comes with deciding what not to reorder. Some products still sell slowly, but no longer represent where your brand is going. The holidays are your point of closure. Let these products have their final, successful season, and then allow them to exit your assortment so that January begins with clarity instead of clutter. Customers can feel when a store is hanging on to outdated things. A tighter, more intentional catalog always feels more premium.

And through all of this, remember the emotional truth of holiday shopping. People are not always looking for perfect. They are looking for warm, sincere, cozy, sentimental, fun, small-but-meaningful. Your slower inventory can be those things when you show how it fits into real holiday life.

If you approach your holiday inventory planning this way, the outcome is more than just sales. You clear space physically, mentally, and creatively. You simplify your assortment. You strengthen your brand direction. You move into the new year without dragging the weight of unfinished decisions behind you.

This is not about clearing shelves. It is about clearing room for the next chapter. It is the gentle release of what served its time, what shaped earlier seasons, and what no longer needs to travel with you into the new year.