E-Commerce Dictionary
Sku (Stock Keeping Unit)
Definition
A scannable bar code, most often seen printed on product labels in a retail store.
Deep Dive
A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique alphanumeric code assigned by a retailer or business to identify and track a particular product and its variations within their inventory management system. Unlike a Universal Product Code (UPC) or EAN, which are standardized for external use across companies, SKUs are internal codes specific to each company's inventory system. They allow businesses to precisely differentiate products based on attributes such as size, color, style, manufacturer, and warranty, providing a granular level of inventory control.
Examples & Use Cases
- 1A t-shirt company might use SKUs like "TSHIRT-BLUE-M-V1" for a medium blue t-shirt, version 1, and "TSHIRT-RED-L-V2" for a large red t-shirt, version 2, to track specific product variants.
- 2A grocery store assigns unique SKUs to different brands and sizes of milk (e.g., "MILK-WHOLE-GALLON-DAIRYCO"), making it easy to manage inventory, track sales by specific product, and reorder efficiently.
- 3An online electronics retailer uses distinct SKUs for different configurations of a laptop, such as "LAPTOP-MODELX-I7-16GB-256SSD" and "LAPTOP-MODELX-I5-8GB-128SSD", to manage stock accurately.
Related Terms
BarcodeUniversal Product Code (UPC)Inventory ManagementPoint of Sale (POS)