Add a "Last Chance" Tag Before a Product Is Discontinued
Discontinuing a product is a sales opportunity if you handle it right. A "Last Chance" tag, applied automatically before the product disappears, feeds a clearance collection and creates genuine urgency — without you manually tagging anything.
Why the last-chance window matters
Customers who missed a product's run often wish they'd known it was going away. A Last Chance section gives them that signal. The problem is that manually tracking which products are being discontinued, and remembering to tag them in time, almost never happens consistently.
DateCue solves this with a single metafield: custom.discontinue_date. Set it on products you're retiring and two workflows handle the rest — the "last-chance" tag goes on 14 days before, and the product gets archived on the day itself.
Step 1: Create the discontinuation date metafield
Go to Settings → Custom data → Products and create:
- Namespace and key:
custom.discontinue_date - Type: Date
Set this on products you're winding down. You can set it well in advance — DateCue checks the date and fires at the right time regardless of when you set it.
Step 2: Create the Last Chance smart collection
In Shopify admin, go to Products → Collections → Create collection. Set it to Automated with the rule: Product tag → is equal to → last-chance. Save. This collection will populate automatically when products start getting the tag.
Step 3: The DateCue workflows
Workflow 1 — Add the last-chance tag 14 days before discontinuation:
Timing: 14 days before the date
Action: Add tag → last-chance
Workflow 2 — Archive the product on discontinuation day:
Timing: On the date
Action: Set status → Archived
For the full archiving workflow guide, see Archive Shopify Products Automatically on Their End Date.
Tuning the lead time
14 days is a common lead time for the last-chance window, but adjust it for your business. A fast-moving food or beverage store might use 7 days. A specialty retailer with customers who plan ahead might use 30. Change the offset in Workflow 1 to match your customer behaviour.
💡 Pair with an email alert: Add a third action or workflow to email your team when the last-chance tag fires. This gives buyers time to place a final purchase order before the product disappears. Same metafield, same trigger, different action type.
Frequently asked questions
What if I change my mind about discontinuing a product?
Clear the custom.discontinue_date metafield on the product. DateCue will stop watching it. The "last-chance" tag won't be removed automatically — you'd need to remove it manually or set up a separate workflow to handle reversals. In most cases, just removing the tag manually in the product editor is easiest.
Will the tag still be on the product after it's archived?
Yes — archiving changes the product's status but doesn't remove tags. This is fine for most stores since archived products don't appear in collections or search. If you want the tag cleaned up on archive day, add a "Remove tag → last-chance" action to Workflow 2 alongside the status change.
Can I apply different lead times to different products?
Not with a single workflow — the offset is set at the workflow level. If you want some products to get 7 days notice and others 30 days, create two workflows with different offsets and filter each by a distinguishing tag (e.g., "fast-discontinue" vs "slow-discontinue").
Does this work with product variants?
DateCue acts on the product level, not the variant level. The "last-chance" tag applies to the whole product. If you're discontinuing a specific variant (like a size or colour), you'd need to handle that through Shopify's variant availability settings rather than DateCue's tag actions.
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