SOURCING WIRE: Direct merchant outreach vs network deal-discovery feeds

SOURCING WIRE: Direct merchant outreach vs network deal-discovery feeds
How you find new exclusive codes — two motions, very different yield. Per people who do it.
— Network discovery feeds (network deal alerts, datafeed scanning): instant, broad, but everyone on the network sees the same offer — no exclusivity, pure rank competition.
— Direct merchant/AM outreach: slow, relationship-heavy, but it's the only path to exclusives, higher tiers, and early access to drops before they hit the network.
Why it matters: We hear the operators landing exclusives treat network feeds as the floor, not the strategy — they mine the feed to find which merchants convert, then go direct on the winners. Feed-only sourcing means you never get the good codes.
Developing...