What "overplanned" actually means

To plan, in merchandising, is to commit units and dollars to a category before the season. To be overplanned is to have committed more than demand justified, and it is an admission about a decision, not about an outcome. When a retailer says it was overplanned in a category, it is saying the units were bought before anyone knew they would not sell.

Gap used exactly this construction about larger sizes in 2022. The relevant filing language is collected in the risk factor comparison.

Open-to-buy is budget deliberately left uncommitted. Sell-through is the share of a buy sold in a period, the cleanest single measure of whether a plan was right. Weeks of supply is inventory expressed as how long it would last at the current rate of sale, which is how planners talk about a glut internally. Comparable sales, or comps, strip out new and closed stores so that the number reflects the same footprint year over year.

A company that reports inventory down and comps up is selling through. A company that reports inventory down and gross margin down is clearing. They can look identical on a balance sheet and mean opposite things, which is the point made in writedowns and impairment.