What to do when your margin drops episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 14, 2026 · 10 MIN

What to do when your margin drops

from Thrive in Fashion Buying and Merchandising · host Elisabeth Mac Hale

What do you do when your sales are on plan but your margin has dropped. In this episode Elisabeth explains why that happens, what it tells you about the quality of your sales rather than the volume, and the questions to ask in your Monday trade meeting to find the cause before it grows into a bigger and costly problem,IN THIS EPISODE·  Why margin is driven by the value and mix of what you sell, not by the number of units that leave the shop floor· The five most common causes of a margin drop, from a markdown rate above plan to movement in your landed cost·  How a shift in product mix inside a single category can cost you several points of margin while sales still look healthy·  The six diagnostic questions and what each one tells you about where to actGO DEEPERIf you want to understand how margin is calculated, how to phase your product, and what weekly actions to take when your figures start to move, that is the commercial framework the Thrive in Fashion Buying and Merchandising course was built to teach:https://designdirectiveme.com/online-fashion-buying-courseIf you would like to develop your fashion buying knowledge from concept to customer, explore the Thrive in Fashion Buying and Merchandising course at designdirectiveme.com

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 14, 2026

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