Root Cause Sourcing: When the Store Tells You Something Before the Brand Does

Discovering a new product line discontinuation

Most resellers think discontinued sourcing works in one direction. You hear a product is discontinued, then you go hunt for it.

But there’s another way that catches a lot of people sleeping. I call it root cause sourcing.

The idea is simple. You spot a product sitting in a bargain outlet, discount store, or an off price retail chain first and you let that be the trigger to figure out why it’s there. Every product at a bargain outlet has a reason for being there. If you can figure out the root cause, you can make smarter plays.

Bargain outlets like Ollies, Grocery Outlet, Big Lots, even places like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Ross, Five Below, etc. are where manufacturers offload inventory they’re trying to clear. By the time a product hits those shelves, something happened on the brand side. Sometimes it’s a packaging change. Sometimes it’s overstock. And sometimes it’s an early hint that that product is discontinued.

If you can figure out the why, you’re ahead of most sellers. You either know the product is going to get harder to find or you know to walk away. Either way, you’re making a better call than buying blind.

This week I’m walking through a major brand you’ve definitely seen at your local grocery store, drugstore, or big box retailer. One of their products turned up at Grocery Outlet, which kicked off the research. By the time I was done, I had confirmation that the entire product line is being discontinued.

I’ll break down which line it is and how I confirmed the whole thing using root cause sourcing.