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Fashion ecommerce
Dead Inventory
Dead inventory (also called slow-moving stock) is product that has been in a brand's catalog for an extended period with low or zero sales velocity, typically requiring markdown to clear.
What this means
Dead inventory accumulates for many reasons: a style that didn't resonate as expected, a size run that doesn't match demand, or simply a product that exists in the catalog but never surfaces in a shopper's browse-and-filter path. The last cause is the most addressable — the product isn't unsellable, it's unsurfaced. Most fashion brands clear dead inventory through markdowns, which recovers some value but sacrifices margin. An alternative approach is contextual surfacing: presenting the slow-moving item as part of a complete outfit for a shopper whose occasion and taste genuinely match it, at full price.
Why it matters for fashion brands
Fashion brands write off significant inventory annually through markdowns. AI stylists that surface slow-moving SKUs in contextually relevant outfit recommendations recover this value at full price rather than through discounting.
Related terms
Full-Price Sell-Through — The percentage of inventory sold at original retail price, before markdowns or promotions. Inventory Days on Hand (DOH) — The average time a unit of inventory sits before being sold. Catalog Enrichment — Adding detailed metadata to product listings beyond title, price, and category.
See the dead inventory revival use case
See how Elara surfaces slow-moving SKUs in relevant, full-price outfits.