How to find new and discontinued SKUs between two price lists
A price change is visible in either list. A discontinued item is only visible by its absence, which is why it is the change most often missed. You have to check in both directions, and then check whether a "dropped" item simply came back under a new number.
1. Dropped: on the old list, not on the new
Old list on a sheet named Old, new list on New, SKUs in column A. In Old!D2, fill down:
=IF(COUNTIF(New!$A:$A,A2)=0,"Dropped","")MATCH does the same and is faster on very long lists:
=IF(ISNA(MATCH(A2,New!$A:$A,0)),"Dropped","")2. New: on the new list, not on the old
In New!D2, fill down:
=IF(COUNTIF(Old!$A:$A,A2)=0,"New","")3. Each group as its own list
Excel 365 and Google Sheets both have FILTER. On a new sheet:
=FILTER(Old!A2:C2000,(Old!A2:A2000<>"")*(COUNTIF(New!A2:A2000,Old!A2:A2000)=0),"None dropped")=FILTER(New!A2:C2000,(New!A2:A2000<>"")*(COUNTIF(Old!A2:A2000,New!A2:A2000)=0),"None new")4. Renumbered, not discontinued
Suppliers renumber items: a colour suffix gets added, a pack size gets a new code. That shows up as one drop and one add, and the price change between them is invisible unless you pair them. For each dropped row, look up its description among the new list (description in column B):
=IF(D2="Dropped",XLOOKUP(B2,New!$B:$B,New!$A:$A,"no match"),"")An exact description match is a strong hint, not proof. Confirm the pair before you treat it as the same item.
Worked example: an electrical supplier's list
Six SKUs on the old list, seven on the new. A plain SKU match finds 2 dropped and 3 new. The description lookup pairs them up:
| Dropped SKU | Description | Old price | Matching new SKU | New price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SW-1P-15 | Single pole switch 15A | $1.92 | SW-1P-15WH | $2.05 | +6.8% |
| LT-A19-60 | A19 LED 60W equivalent (4 pack) | $9.75 | LT-A19-60-2 | $9.75 | 0.0% |
So of the 3 "new" SKUs, only LT-BR30-65 is genuinely new, and one of the two renumbered items quietly went up in price. The same comparison found 4 increases on the SKUs that did match.
Watch for false drops
If a SKU shows as dropped and new at the same time with identical text, the two cells are not identical: a trailing space, a different dash, or a number stored as text on one side. See fixing SKU formatting. The free price list compare tool normalises SKUs before it reports new and dropped items.
Pricecheck takes the supplier's email as it arrives, PDF included, compares it with the last version and sends back only the lines that moved. $49/mo, first month free for early signups. No payment now.