Smart Markdown

Optimizing Retail Pricing and Clearance Workflows

Problem Statement

“It’s challenging to identify the correct products to mark down during the markdown cycle and determine the appropriate percentage while staying within budget.” - Merch Manager

Feedback from business users at Nordstrom has highlighted that the markdown process is overly manual and driven by tribal knowledge. Users struggle with limited visibility into the data they need to make informed decisions while staying within budget and protecting the company’s margin. This leads to inconsistencies in determining which products go into clearance and at what markdown percentage. There’s a need to present the required data in a more streamlined and accessible way, especially for new employees joining the team.

SCOPE & CONTSRAINTS

• Collaborate with the UX team to design a new system that aligns with all enterprise tools (this work is ongoing throughout the project).

• Stick with AG Grid, as it’s already in use across the platform.

• Collaborate with a consulting company during the second half of the project to ensure cross-team alignment.ct

Research

AUDIENCE

Assistant Merch Inventory Specialists (AMIs): Responsible for marking down products within their assigned departments, managing specific budgets for each markdown cycle.

Merchandise Managers: Oversee department budgets for the AMIs and communicate inclusion/exclusion decisions from the Buying Office.

Buying Office: Manages relationships with vendors, including price updates, product inclusions, and exclusions.

User Flow

It is crucial to understand the current state of the tool at a high level and validate the pain points in the existing experience by engaging both users and the team. This helps ensure that the design improvements will address real issues and streamline the process effectively.

Design

Existing Application

Current user pain points

• Users encounter a blank application and are unsure of what to click next.

• The current search query is too broad, returning too many results (e.g., 15,000 items), making it difficult to narrow down the selection.

• The application is data-heavy, with approximately 90 columns, causing horizontal scrolling issues.

• The overall flow of the tool is unclear and difficult to follow.

Initial Landing Screen Designs

Design Decisions

• Users don’t come to a blank screen
• Buildable search query

Landing screen Iterations

I collaborated with our UX Researcher to interview AMIs, hold review sessions, and set up surveys for quick feedback to iterate on the improvements of the Clearance tool.

Project Pivot

After several months of leading this initiative, Nordstrom hired a consulting group to integrate data science insights and create a future version of Smart Markdown, aimed at saving millions in inventory margin dollars. While the work I had done would remain in place for the time being, the larger team had to adjust their workflows to collaborate with the consulting group, which now took ownership of this aspect of the project.

A New Approach
The consulting team, with prior experience in similar projects at other companies, brought a standardized approach to the table. However, they needed our team to remain involved to help adapt their approach to Nordstrom’s unique business needs and build a tailored experience that would work for our organization.

Design System

Since my role shifted to more of a supporting capacity with the consulting team onboard, I took ownership of facilitating a weekly design pattern meeting. During these meetings, we reviewed and refined updated patterns for Smart Markdown, documented design decisions, and contributed to the design library to ensure consistency across other enterprise tools.

Final Design

Since the consulting group ultimately owned the design, I collaborated closely with their designer to apply the new design system’s look and feel. I also assisted with presenting at design reviews, as their time on the project was limited. Having spent several months working on the design, I had a deep understanding of the clearance process, which allowed me to contribute effectively during the final stages.

Final Thoughts

This project presented a significant challenge as it was my first after joining Nordstrom. I took ownership of the space, developed my design approach within a new team, and navigated the transition from working as an agency designer to an in-house designer. It was a valuable experience in building relationships and adapting to a different design environment.

CHALLENGES

Tech Collaboration: Since I joined the project later in the process, the tech team had already grown accustomed to working without UX input. I often had to advocate for my voice and design perspective within the team.

Consulting Collaboration: A few months into leading the project, Nordstrom brought on a consulting company to take over the Smart Markdown initiative as part of a larger business push. While I remained on the project, the shifting roles and evolving team dynamics made collaboration challenging.

Constant Rework: Balancing the creation of a product while simultaneously determining which design patterns would work for the design system led to a lot of rework and iterations throughout the project.