Inventory glossary

What is Discontinued SKU?

A discontinued SKU is a product variant that a store or its supplier has permanently stopped selling or making, so it will never be restocked.

Discontinued SKUs clutter your catalog and your reorder lists if you do not mark them clearly. If you keep forecasting demand for a candle scent your supplier dropped, you waste time reviewing numbers that will never lead to a real order.

The fix is simple housekeeping. Tag the SKU as discontinued, stop it from showing up in reorder suggestions, and decide what to do with any remaining stock, usually a discount or bundle to clear it out.

Example

A candle store sells a "Spiced Pear" scent. The supplier tells them it is being discontinued and the last batch has shipped. The store has 40 units left on hand. They mark the SKU as discontinued, remove it from future purchase orders, and run a 20% off sale until the 40 units sell out.

Common mistakes

  • Leaving a discontinued SKU active so it keeps appearing in reorder or forecast lists.
  • Forgetting to clear remaining stock before it becomes dead stock.
  • Not telling customers a product is gone, leading to complaints when they try to reorder.

Discontinued SKU and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf lets you mark a SKU as discontinued so it stops generating order-by dates and reorder suggestions once a supplier confirms it is gone.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Dead stock · Excess inventory · SKU rationalization · Slow-moving inventory · Obsolete inventory

Full inventory glossary

FAQ

What happens to leftover stock of a discontinued SKU?

It usually needs to be marked down, bundled with other products, or cleared through a sale, since no more will arrive and it will otherwise sit as dead stock.

Should a discontinued SKU be deleted from Shopify right away?

Not until all remaining stock is sold or written off, since order history and any leftover units still need to be tracked.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.

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