Case Study: Suomalainen Kirjakauppa achieves 133% higher inventory turnover and 94% higher markdown sales value with RELEX Solutions

Suomalainen Kirjakauppa A Proactive Markdown Process for Optimizing Stock Levels

Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, Finland’s leading bookseller with 64 stores and an online channel, faced a large, fast‑moving assortment where short title lifecycles and a rising number of new releases made it impractical to manually clear out old stock. The retailer needed a dynamic, data‑driven way to decide when and how much to markdown items to free space for new titles without harming profitability.

Suomalainen piloted RELEX’s markdown tool in four stores (Sep–Dec 2018) and then rolled it out to all stores in April 2019; the system uses analytics and price‑elasticity estimates to generate individual SKU/store markdown plans with weekly recommendations and a six‑week clearance target. In the first seven weeks of the campaign 40 products delivered a 94% higher sales value than projected with no markdown, sales quantities quadrupled, and inventory turnover increased 133%, creating space for new titles and largely automating the markdown process.

Suomalainen Kirjakauppa

Henri Bryk

Assortment Analyst