Value retailer Home Bargains has rolled out automated markdowns across 600 of its UK stores, to reduce waste, improve sell-through and maintain margin, partnering with in-store execution software provider, Retail Insight.

In a move to modernise its markdown processes, the retailer will replace the manual and time-intensive task of updating hand-written discount labels with automated, data-driven markdowns, powered by WasteInsight, a waste management solution from Retail Insight.

Following a successful 20 store pilot in Feb 2025, Home Bargains will leverage the WasteInsight solution to automate pricing decisions on discounted goods, helping to improve sell-through while maximising value recovery (margin) from marked-down items.

It will also use the solution to streamline store processes and improve operational efficiencies, whilst tapping into the platform’s head office management information tools, which offer greater visibility into compliance and performance to drive consistency across departments.

Paul Rowland, Retail & Technology Director at Home Bargains, said the move had helped the retailer “transform a very manual, outdated process into one that’s simple for colleagues, smart for the business and better for customers.”

“We’re selling more, wasting less and delivering real results across the chain,” Rowland added. Since deploying the solution, Home Bargain’s volume sell-through has increased by +1.7%, while the proportion of ‘recovered’ items rose by +4.89% against a baseline period last month.

“Home Bargains has been bold in its approach to tackling markdowns,” Paul Boyle, CEO at Retail Insight, commented. “The results already show the value of this transformation, and we’re excited to refine [the] outputs further and look at the entire waste journey to deliver even more value.”