How can I easily generate SKUs for my products? (2024)

FAQs

How can I easily generate SKUs for my products? ›

You can create SKU numbers and maintain inventory by hand in notebooks or spreadsheets, but using a retail POS with inventory tracking is significantly easier and more efficient. A POS, in general, allows you to track as much or as little product data as you desire.

SKUs Do's and Don't for best practices

Keep it as short as possible. If it is not necessary to add the brand or manufacturers, no need to add that as part of your code. First few digits should represent the highest category of importance. Always write your SKU numbers in the same order.

To create SKU numbers in Excel, start by setting up basic columns for product information. For example, enter the product brand in the first column and its type in the second. Then, add a third column for the SKU codes, using the "MID" function to extract specific parts of the data from the first two columns.

Shopify makes it easy to generate SKUs for products. All you need to do is select the product from your Shopify store, enter the desired SKU code, and click “Generate SKU”. This will create a unique SKU for the product which you can then use to track inventory and market the product.

There are two ways to create the SKUs for your ecommerce store: manually or automatically with a SKU generator.

SKU Management Best Practices & Strategy

Avoid Starting SKUs with Zeros: Some data storing tools disregard leading zeros altogether. For example, entering 04563 in Excel would actually store 4563. As a rule of thumb, avoid using zeros to start your SKU naming to stay clear of data storage issues.

Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)

It does not cost you anything to create SKUs for your products and you can come up with your own system that will best help you track your inventory. Generally, SKUs are 8-12 characters long and use a combination of letters and numbers that serve as a shorthand description of the product.

Strive for a product code length that strikes a balance. Aim for a minimum of 4 characters (for smaller inventories) and a maximum of 12 characters. This ensures readability on product labels and prevents codes from splitting onto multiple lines on invoices.

Do I make up my own SKU number? ›

SKUs are different from barcodes and UPC codes. For example, although barcodes are unique globally and are issued by a standards organization, you can create your own SKU format and codes for your business. For accurate inventory tracking and reporting, use unique SKUs for each product variant.

Using a few letters from the beginning of your item description at the beginning of your part number will make it much easier to look up items in pick lists. For example, if you were creating an item number for “Sauce, Chocolate”, you might create the number “SAU101”, “Sauce, Caramel” would be “SAU102”, etc.

Stock keeping unit codes tend to be automatically generated through an ERP system. To generate a SKU code, you should consider different attributes such as product type, size, and color.

SKU numbers vary based on the retailer's chosen format, but here are a few examples: Example 1: ABC-12345-S-BL (Brand: ABC, Product ID: 12345, Size: Small, Color: Blue) Example 2: 01-200-GR-M (Department: 01, Item number: 200, Color: Green, Size: Medium)

Typically, SKU numbers are listed on the product's packaging — usually above the product's barcode, as seen below. While the 12-digit numeric code on the bottom is the product's UPC (Universal Product Code), the alphanumeric code at the top is the SKU number (which is different from the UPC).

Strive for a product code length that strikes a balance. Aim for a minimum of 4 characters (for smaller inventories) and a maximum of 12 characters. This ensures readability on product labels and prevents codes from splitting onto multiple lines on invoices.