New York
CNN business
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Shop for caramel popcorn, churros, and roasted Gorgonzola crackers at Trader Joe’s, or bake Kirkland Signature mini peanut butter cups and pizza at Costco.
However, when you arrive at the store, your favorite candy is not on the shelf. And to your horror, you find out they won’t be back.
they have been deprecated.
This is one of the most disappointing experiences as a grocery shopper. One of the most common questions customers ask stores is why their beloved items have disappeared. Fans run dedicated social media accounts to track discontinued products at Trader Joe’s, and other fans blog about long-lost items at Costco.
Trader Joe’s says on its “discontinued product feedback” contact page for customers:
There are several reasons why Trader Joe’s, Costco (COST), and other stores suddenly stop selling their customers’ favorite items.
A product may be seasonal, or the manufacturer may always plan to make it for a limited time. And in stores like Costco and Trader Joe’s, discontinuing sales could reinforce the treasure-hunting appeal of these stores.
However, other strategies are often useful.
One of the main factors is that it’s difficult to get shelf space within Trader Joe’s and Costco and stay there. These companies sell a limited number of products — only the products most in demand by customers.
This is a very different strategy from supermarkets and the likes of Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN), which offer a wide range of foods and brands. For example, Costco sells about 4,000 different products at any given time. A conventional supermarket typically sells 40,000 pieces.
Both companies’ ability to keep their prices lower than most of their competitors hinges on selling high volumes of top-selling products every minute and every day.
When a product isn’t selling fast enough on the shelves at Trader Joe’s, or dust accumulates in a Costco warehouse, businesses need to switch to something else that customers can buy quickly.
Matt Sloan, vice president of marketing at Trader Joe’s, said in a former company podcast, “If you don’t sell high volumes or don’t sell high volumes, the cost of producing and handling a product that doesn’t sell well is It makes no business sense,” he said. this year.
Also, it is the product itself. If a supplier raises the price too much or the quality drops, the company will withdraw the product.
Chuck Howard, assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University’s Mays School of Business, said: “It would be off-brand for them to sell something that consumers think is too expensive.”
For example, about five years ago, Costco sold $27 Perdue’s 10-pound boneless, skinless frozen frozen chicken breast for $21.99, according to Marcus Walker, who was an assistant frozen food buyer at Costco from 2005 to 2020. replaced with the Wayne Farms version of
They also sell products that are cheaper at other stores.
Costco wants its products to be the lowest-priced option. Walker said he pulled Hot Pockets because he couldn’t match Sam’s Club prices for the product.
Costco’s team buys the supplier’s products at competitors’ stores and tests them to compare quality with Costco’s. If a product tastes better elsewhere, Walker said, they’ll ask suppliers to improve it for Costco — and if that doesn’t happen, Costco will replace it. will try to replace it.
Another issue highlighted by the pandemic is product supply stability. When a manufacturer can’t produce enough of an item, the company discontinues the item and replaces it with something that can be kept on the shelf at all times.
In 2020 and 2021, demand from customers stocking up on groceries during the pandemic was so high that manufacturers stopped producing many secondary products to only produce the most in-demand items. . And even as demand eases this year and factories return to more normal capacity, manufacturers still don’t make as many different products as they did before the pandemic.
Hormel Foods (HRL), maker of Skippy and Spam, and Mondelez (MDLZ), which owns brands such as Oreo, are among the companies that recently announced they would be focusing on the top by selling fewer products. is. – what to run.
Angela Ackerman, who runs the Instagram account @Costcoguide and has more than 230,000 followers, said Costco fans often ask why they can’t find Costco’s Dry Dark Chocolate Mango, in particular.
“They fall in love with something and want to see it again,” she said.
As Ackermann knows, scarcity can drive sales. When I see a notice that a valuable item is no longer being sold at Costco, I buy more before it’s gone.
