Pre-Season and In-Season Planning in Fashion Retail: A Complete Guide

Pre-season and in-season planning are critical processes in the fashion industry, enabling supply chain professionals to effectively manage inventory, forecast demand, and respond to market trends.

These two phases together cover the full lifecycle of a fashion season — from the financial and assortment decisions made months ahead of launch to the in-season replenishment and markdown decisions that determine the final margin. This guide walks through both phases, explains the handoff between them, and covers the questions buyers and planners ask most often.

Table of Contents

1. What Is Pre-Season Planning in Fashion Retail?
2. What Is In-Season Planning in Fashion Retail?
3. Pre-Season vs. In-Season Planning: The Handoff
4. A Decision Framework for Each Planning Stage
5. Where AI and Automation Fit In
6. FAQs on Pre-Season and In-Season Planning

What Is Pre-Season Planning in Fashion Retail?

Pre-season planning typically occurs six to twelve months before a new selling season. It includes:

• Merchandise Financial Planning
• Assortment Planning
• Size/Pack Optimization

Merchandise Financial Planning

Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP) is the strategic process of budgeting and allocating financial resources for purchasing inventory, managing assortments, and optimizing sales to achieve business objectives in the retail industry. It involves anticipating demand through forecasting and planning inventory needs to meet the forecasted demand while aligning with the company's financial goals.

The goal of MFP is to optimize inventory investments, enhance sales forecasting accuracy, and improve overall profitability by aligning financial resources with consumer demand and merchandising strategies.

In practice, MFP outputs the Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget — the spending limit that each buyer works within for a given period. OTB is recalculated each month or buying season based on planned sales, planned markdowns, and current inventory.

Assortment Planning

Assortment planning and optimization is the strategic process of selecting the optimal mix of products across different locations, channels, and seasons, and determining which specific products, product categories, styles, sizes, colors, etc., to include in the assortment based on factors like profitability, brand positioning, shelf space constraints, etc.

The key objectives are to maximize sales, profitability, inventory productivity, and customer satisfaction by offering the right product assortment tailored to each market segment.

Size/Pack Optimization

Size or pack optimization, also known as prepack optimization, is the process of determining the optimal pack sizes or configurations in which products should be shipped from distribution centers to retail stores.

The key objective is to minimize total supply chain costs related to handling and inventory, and improve inventory productivity with the right pack sizes.

Size curves often vary by store cluster and region. A pack composition that fits one store may leave bestselling sizes out of stock in another.

What Is In-Season Planning in Fashion Retail?

In-season planning focuses on managing and adjusting plans during the current selling season. It includes:

• Initial Allocation
• Replenishment
• Exit Strategy / Markdown

Initial Allocation

Initial allocation in fashion retail refers to the process of pre-allocating planned quantities of merchandise to different locations/channels based on anticipated demand, local preferences, and trends, before the selling season begins.

The goal is to ensure the right products are available in the right locations to meet localized customer demand from the start of the season.

Replenishment

Replenishment in-season for fashion products refers to the process of restocking inventory during the selling season based on actual sales data and demand trends. It involves monitoring real-time sales data and inventory levels during the season to identify fast/slow-selling items and locations. Based on this analysis, additional replenishment orders are placed with suppliers to restock high-demand products at specific stores/channels.

The goal is to maximize sales by ensuring high-selling items remain in stock, while minimizing overstock of slow movers.

Effective in-season replenishment can improve inventory productivity, reduce markdowns, and boost revenue and margins for retailers.

Exit Strategy / Markdown

Markdowns are price reductions implemented by fashion retailers to clear slow-moving or aged seasonal inventory before it becomes obsolete.

The aim is to boost sales velocity, maximize revenue over the product lifecycle, and maintain healthy inventory turnover. Markdowns can be applied in-season through progressive discounts or at the end of a season.

Pre-Season vs. In-Season Planning: The Handoff

Pre-season and in-season planning are two phases of one continuous cycle. The pre-season plan sets the budget, assortment, and starting allocation. The in-season plan manages the season as actuals come in. The handoff between them is where the pre-season assumptions need to remain visible — otherwise, in-season decisions get made without context.

When the same source of truth drives both phases, the in-season team can see the original assumptions behind every plan number. When it doesn't, they end up making allocation, transfer, and markdown decisions reactively.

A Decision Framework for Each Planning Stage

Different categories and brands need different planning approaches at each stage, whether pre-season or in-season. The framework below summarizes what we typically recommend at TrueGradient.

Where AI and Automation Fit In Pre-season and In-season Cycle?

AI-driven planning changes the pre-season to in-season cycle in a few specific ways:

• Attribute-based forecasting for new products with no sales history — using color, fabric, silhouette, price tier, and analog SKUs to forecast launch demand.
• Automated cluster and size curve recalculation at every drop, so allocation and pack composition reflect what each store cluster actually buys this season.
• Real-time sell-through monitoring with exception-based alerts, so replenishment teams focus on the SKUs that need attention.
• Multi-objective markdown optimization that balances revenue, margin, and inventory clearance against price elasticity.
• A continuous handoff between pre-season and in-season plans, so allocation and markdown decisions are made with full visibility into the original budget and assortment assumptions.

A leading Indian fashion brand applied this end-to-end approach across its 120+ stores, D2C platforms, and major marketplaces with TrueGradient. The full case study is in our fast-fashion forecasting.

FAQs on Pre-Season and In-Season Planning

What is the difference between pre-season and in-season planning? Pre-season planning happens six to twelve months before a selling season and covers Merchandise Financial Planning, assortment planning, and size/pack optimization. In-season planning happens during the active selling season and covers initial allocation, replenishment, and markdowns.

When does pre-season planning start in fashion retail? Most fashion retailers begin pre-season planning six to twelve months before the season. Brands with longer fabric lead times — premium and luxury — may start earlier.

What is the initial allocation in fashion retail? Initial allocation is the pre-season process of distributing planned merchandise across stores and channels before the season begins, based on anticipated demand, local preferences, and historical sell-through.

How does in-season replenishment differ from initial allocation? Initial allocation positions stock before the season starts, based on forecast. Replenishment re-orders or transfers stock during the season, based on actual sell-through.

How do markdowns fit into in-season planning? Markdowns can be applied in-season through progressive discounts or at the end of a season. Triggering markdowns based on sell-through performance — rather than only at season-end — typically protects more margin.

Can AI replace traditional pre-season and in-season planning? AI does not replace planners. Pre-season planning still needs human judgment for trend direction, brand positioning, and category strategy. AI handles the volume of work: attribute-based forecasting, cluster recalculation, replenishment, and markdown optimization.

🌟 Are you a fashion industry supply chain professional? Reach out to discover how TrueGradient can help you create automated pre-season and in-season planning strategies that help you scale your business without any worry.

Book a 30 min demo · Talk to us · or email us at info@truegradient.ai