There are few things that raise the ire of retailers more than the words "mark down." That's precisely the phrase they are trying to eliminate from the Back-to-School season by keeping heavy-weight items off the racks until the cooler months of September and October even as they introduce extended summer offerings.

While mass--and most other--retailers have been grappling with timing issues for years, it appears that during 2000 an across-the-board change will be seen throughout the industry.

"Over the past few years, we have moved deeper into the season with light weight clothes, and we have pushed back our delivery of the heavier weight goods we traditionally got in July to September," says Skip Chustz, senior vice president and general merchandising manager of ShopKo.
We're extending the [summer] season with lighter weight fashion," says Jim Sparks, senior vice president and general merchandising manager of Bradlees. "You're going to see shorts and T-shirts in our brochure during the fall. We may change the colors, but kids want to wear the same things to school they wore earlier in the year."

"It's really like we're introducing a second season," says Sandy Sansavera, senior vice president and general merchandising manager at Ames.

"While you want to lower the risk of markdowns for fall, you're running the risk that you'll have [an abundance of shorts] markdowns in September," Sansavera says. "That's where the management of supply chain becomes essential."
Retailers work closely with manufacturers, sharing category management numbers to better ensure that the right merchandise arrives in their stores at the right time.

"We get another shipment of shorts and tops, mostly knit, on June 1," says Chustz. "The merchandise that comes in then is done in fall color palettes."

Manufacturers are also adapting.

"We've had to hold off on sending out the fleece until August, so they get in the stores by September," says Morris Hidary, vice president of M. Hidary, which supplies national chains such as Wal-Mart and Kmart. "On top of that, we ship lighter weight goods later in the season. Essentially, by extending the season, it's become a buy-now, wear-now type of thing."

Of course, this does not mean consumers won't find heavier-weight items for Back-to-School; it's just that stores will have more polar fleece, denim, vests, tops and other heavier items in October than in July and August.

A significant challenge for retailers, however, will be training customers to understand the difference between the new late-season merchandise that is full priced versus the early-spring goods featured on markdown racks.

"We have trained our customers that shorts will go on sale in July and August. And here's a second introduction of shorts and other light weight clothes in June that will not be marked down [until fall]," says Sansavera. "The difference in styles for the extended season line is that tops will be in darker fall colors, and the shorts will include many of the successful treatments we're seeing on pants."

"The benefit from this is that we will hopefully have less mark downs. The danger is that it can be confusing to the customer. I think there will be some confusion about our store [signage] because not all our shorts will be marked down," says Sansavera. "The customer might say, well I'll just buy [the marked down] version because it's a better deal."

Retailers will have to make doubly sure the signs and markdowns in the store are properly designated, so the customer clearly sees the difference between the new late-summer line and the earlier marked-down line.

Although extending the season means summerwear will sell later into the year, fall fashion will begin to impact the racks by July and August, with darker color palettes and even more treatments. Denim will continue to play an important part of the transition to fall.

"Basic denim is starting to make a comeback, which would be good for us," says Sparks. "There's still a lot of treatments on the girls' side with the hippie-chick look sticking around. But we even see some of the five-pocket standards coming back in boys."

VF Jeanswear, which also handles the Riders label for girls, will be coming out with a five-pocket flare jeans for girls meant to bring back a late 60s feel.

In addition to extending the season, Starter, the once hugely popular department and sporting goods store label, is making its way onto the racks of the mass merchants for Back-to-School. It will begin to appear on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Kmart by the third quarter.

For years, retailers have been speculating that extending the summer season into Back-to-School would help alleviate the markdowns that accompanied selling heavy items like fleece in July and August. Will there in fact be fewer markdowns? Or will the confusion make it even worse?

"It's not 'a gimme'," says Sansavera. "It's not in the bag."

And exactly what's in the customer's bags when they walk out of the stores in August will show how successful retailers are at extending the season.