🏷️ SKU Generator

What is the SKU Generator?

A SKU is a short, human-readable code a business assigns to a product so staff and software can find, count and reorder it. Unlike a barcode (UPC or EAN), which is a global identifier you usually buy from a standards body, a SKU is yours to design however you like. A good SKU encodes a few meaningful attributes (what the item is, its color, its size) followed by a number that keeps each variant unique. For example, ACME-TS-BLK-L-001 reads as an Acme black large t-shirt, unit 001.

The whole point of a SKU is consistency. When every product follows the same pattern (prefix, then category, then color, then size, then a counter), a person can glance at a code and know roughly what it is, and a spreadsheet or point-of-sale system can sort and filter by the parts. That is why this tool builds SKUs from fixed segments joined by one separator: you decide the structure, and every code that comes out follows it exactly.

There are two common ways to handle the trailing number. A sequential number (001, 002, 003) is tidy and tells you roughly how many items you have created, but it leaks order volume and can clash if two people generate codes at once. A random number avoids guessable, sequential codes and reduces collisions in distributed teams, at the cost of readability. This tool offers both, plus a no-number option for when your attribute codes alone are already unique.

When to use it

• Creating SKUs for a new product line before loading it into Shopify, WooCommerce, Square or a spreadsheet.
• Standardizing an inventory that grew organically, so every variant follows one readable pattern.
• Generating size and color variants of the same product in bulk (for example S, M, L, XL across three colors).
• Spinning up placeholder SKUs for a catalog mockup, sample data, or a warehouse layout test.

How to use the SKU Generator

1. Enter a prefix (often your brand or company short code, such as ACME).
2. Fill in the attribute codes you want: category, color, size, and an optional extra field.
3. Pick a separator (hyphen, underscore, dot, or none) to join the parts.
4. Choose a number type: sequential (counts up from a start value), random, or no number, and set how many digits.
5. Set how many SKUs to generate, then press Generate SKUs and copy them individually or all at once.

Formula & method

Worked examples

Example attribute codes you can use as building blocks

Number type: when to use each

Common mistakes to avoid

• Putting spaces or special characters in codes. Spaces, slashes and symbols break sorting and trip up some point-of-sale and spreadsheet imports. Keep SKUs to letters, numbers and a single separator. This tool strips anything else from your code fields automatically.
• Encoding the price or supplier name in the SKU. Prices change and suppliers change, but a SKU should stay fixed for the life of the product. Encode stable attributes (category, color, size) and keep changeable data in other fields of your system.
• Using too few digits in the number. A 2-digit counter runs out at 99. If you expect hundreds of variants in a category, use 3 or 4 digits so you never collide or have to re-number later.
• Starting every category at the same low number. Sequential SKUs across different categories can look alike (TS-001 and HD-001). Keep the category code in the SKU so the counter only needs to be unique within its own group.

Glossary

SKU

Stock Keeping Unit, an internal code a business assigns to track a specific product variant in inventory.

Variant

A specific version of a product, for example a particular size and color combination, that needs its own SKU.

Prefix

The leading segment of a SKU, often a brand or company short code, that groups related products.

Separator

The character (hyphen, underscore or dot) that joins the parts of a SKU so they stay readable.

Barcode (UPC/EAN)

A global product identifier, usually purchased and scanned, which is separate from your internal SKU.

Frequently asked questions