Overview
Product SKUs are a huge part of managing inventory for your ecommerce platform. This article will go over what a SKU is, and some of the quirks that come with SKUs in Magento.
What's a SKU?
SKU stands for "Stock Keeping Unit". Every product has its own unique SKU that isn't shared by any other product in your system. These SKUs are likely generated by your POS system based on a variety of factors (how SKUs are generated varies from POS system to POS system, and can often be tweaked in order to best support your business). While SKUs can, in theory, be a random jumble of letters and numbers, they often reflect things about the product like size or color.
What are the Rules for SKUs?
Magento doesn't have any unique rules for SKUs compared to other platforms, however there are still a few things to keep in mind.
The main thing to keep in mind for product SKUs is that they have to be unique. You cannot use the same SKU twice for separate products, even if the product themselves are similar. If you use the same SKU twice, the integrator won't update products with that SKU.
Where Can I See my Products' SKUs?
Product SKUs are visible in a few places. If you look at the list of your products in the Modern Retail Admin Panel, you can see the SKU in the Integration ID column, pictured below:
You can learn more about the Admin Panel product list here.
In Magento, you can see your product SKUs in the Catalog>Products, in the SKU column:
It's like that you'll be able to see your SKUs in your POS system as well, although where exactly will vary from POS to POS.
If you have any additional questions about SKUs, please feel free to submit a support request.