The great clearance and overstock sale of 2022 continues at Macy's with consumers still feeling inflationary pressures, officials at the department store chain said Tuesday.

Why it matters: Retailers need to mark down merchandise to clear access inventory as they prepare for the important holiday shopping season, which for the third year is expected to kick off early, a trend started in 2020 to spread out sales and consumer demand during the pandemic.

Driving the news: Macy’s officials spoke Tuesday during an earnings call about how a double-digit increase in grocery prices is eating into consumers’ budgets, changing behaviors and increasing the need to discount.

The big picture: Overstocking has been an industry-wide problem but retailers are still fearful of not having the right mix of goods to meet consumer demand, Axios’ Hope King reports.

What they're saying: "During the quarter, we observed that all retailers were working to shed their excess inventory, setting the industry up for higher permanent markdowns and promotional levels," Macy's Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeff Gennette said Tuesday in the earnings call.

Yes, but: Gennette said more than 55% of Macy's offerings for the holiday season will be new, an increase of 30 percentage points from the 2019 holiday season "to meet customer expectations."

Of note: Gennette said "holiday buying" is expected to start in October as it has in pandemic years.