A wholesaler may distinguish distribution intended for Europe with a suffix like BH-1883-EU, and a reseller may add a prefix to help manage their sources, giving AP-BH-1883-EU. For example, a publisher may decide on the SKU BH-1883. However, SKUs need to be considered carefully, since a distributor or reseller may extend the original SKU with a prefix or suffix to assist their own operations. For computer software, the practice is generally well established for using the SKU provided by the publisher.

Normally abbreviated to SKU, this identification code may originate from any point in the supply chain where stock needs to be kept, or stored: for example, it may be created by the original manufacturer, by a wholesaler, or by a reseller/retailer. Stock-Keeping Unit (SKU)Īn identification code for a product (or service) that captures all the important aspects of the product and differentiates it from others that the vendor may supply. So a box of 50 yellow widgets would have one SKU because it can be sold as a box, while one blue widget might have a separate but related SKU because it can be stocked and sold individually as well. As the name implies, the SKU is intended to help producers track inventory in stock, but it can also be used by resellers, and even the people who purchase the item to keep track of what they’ve purchased. Part of that bar code is the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), which is a uniform method of tracking products sold. Every time we go to the grocery store and check out, the cashier scans our groceries one at a time and the register automatically knows what we purchased, how much it is, and they probably even trigger when they need to reorder that item.

Sku system template