How To Create Barcodes For Your Products

SKUs, UPCs, barcodes—Are you aware of how all this new technology can help you run your small business smoothly? Being an entrepreneur can be exciting but really hard as well. You can't be an expert in every area and we acknowledge that. We're also pleased, however, to give you the basics to clarify the words and shed some light on exactly what these advanced tools of the trade can do for you and your small business.

Topics Covered in this Article:

Why understanding SKUs can promptly improve your inventory management?

About SKU number
About UPC Code

How creating SKUs can help entrepreneurs make their business profitable

12 reasons why your small business can benefit from SKUs
How to set up your SKUs: dos and don'ts
Free SKU Generator

Why small business should use barcode

Barcodes basics
Top 7 tips for creating efficient barcodes
Generate barcodes
Barcode scanners & technology

1. Why understanding SKUs can promptly improve your inventory management?

Don't be confused anymore and make sure you know the basics of product codes and the best practices.

What is the meaning of SKUs?

SKU meaning SKU, pronounced as "skew", is a special number that can transform how you organize your business products.

What is a SKU number?

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit. It is an internal product inventory coding that identifies all your product features (colour, size, etc.). These codes are unique to your company and allow you to keep track of your inventory easily.

How are SKUs set up?

Whether you create your code manually or use a SKU generator, your first task will be to list all the variants that define your product or any classification that is relevant to your business: type, brand, style, colour, size, gender, cost, material, season, stock location or supplier, origin, purchase date, expiration date, etc.

Download our SKU Generator for free to create SKU for your products.

Let's say you sell shoes. Here is an example of a list of different variants that you could consider before generating SKUs:

Style: sport shoes
Type: running shoes
Colour: pink grey
Season: spring/summer
Gender: woman
Size: 6
Stock Location: Warehouse 1

Variants of shoes

Creating SKUs is easy and companies of any size can afford to set them up. A few rules, however, should be followed. View the section: How to set up your SKUs: dos and don'ts. Small businesses could easily simplify their inventory management and greatly benefit from SKUs. We have listed all the advantages in the following part: 12 reasons why your small business can benefit from SKUs.

What is a UPC code?

The UPC (Universal Product Code) seems similar to SKU, but actually the two are different in many ways. The UPC is commonly called a barcode that was introduced in 1974 to help retailers track trade items. UPCs are numeric codes with 12 digits. If you are looking to sell your own products in retail stores or on Amazon, you would need to associate your product with a worldwide compatible database and buy UPCs.

How do I get UPC codes?

UPCs are administered and sold by GS1 US, the American branch of an international organization GS1 (formerly Uniform Code Council). A UPC code is assigned to a unique product and remains constant throughout the product's shelf life. The UPC code always stays the same among all retail outlets. You only need a UPC code for product sold through retail supply chains.

If you have an international business you should know that, for some countries, you need to use a special 13-digit version of a UPC called an International Article Number (IAN) or European Article Number (EAN).

SKU numbers are often confused with the terms barcode or UPC.

SKU vs UPC comparisons

SKU vs UPC

What are EAN, ISBN and ASIN?

Do these ring a bell? No, they are not one of the hottest new rap groups, but they can sure be useful to your business! Let's quickly identify them to end your training on product codes basics and begin with your becoming an accomplished entrepreneur in labelling products!

EAN/IAN: When selling products internationally, you may need to use a special 13-digit version of a UPC called an International Article Number (IAN) or European Article Number (EAN). If you need either of these for your products, you should visit the GS1 website to know how to buy some.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number): It is a unique barcode identifying books only.
ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number): It is a 10-letter digit to identify products sold on Amazon. For books only, the ASIN is the same as an ISBN.

Barcodes stickers

2. How creating SKUs can help entrepreneurs make their business profitable

In today's challenging business practices, small companies can't compete without using professional tools. From now on, stop tedious and time-consuming inventory practices and start setting SKUs as the backbone of your inventory management.

Download our SKU Generator for free to create SKU for your products.

12 reasons why your small business can benefit from SKUs

Why creating SKUs

DRIVE EFFICIENCY AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

1.Dramatically improve operations from sales to inventory management by making products easy to sort, find, search and reference from estimates, sales orders, shipping orders and invoices.

2. Always keep track of every item in real time.

OPTIMIZE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

3. Shorten the account for every product in your inventory.

4. Avoid stock-outs by real-time identification of low stock or shrinkage.

5. Have better control of your supply chain, with an alert that signals when replenishment is necessary and allows you to set up reorder points.

6. Simplify inventory reconciliation.

7. Facilitate stock adjustment, by creating stock entry, stock removal, or stock movement between locations or update inventory.

8. Multi-location inventory allows you to sort your items in different locations, so they never get lost.

IMPROVE QUALITY CONTROL AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

9. Decrease the number of problems that occurs from human error, such as miswriting or mispicks.

10. Improve client satisfaction by giving a better transparency to product availability and by promptly sending orders.

GAIN PROFITABILITY

11.Better profit analysis is increased when you can define precisely what item/variant is the most profitable and build reports, in order to better plan your investments.

12.Protect your margin, so that consumers cannot easily compare products from one store to another and retailers don't have to match the price.

Do's and Don'ts

How to set up your SKUs: dos and don'ts

Do's

Use it internally only: Companies use SKUs mostly for internal purposes to track inventory, although customers can find information about many products by using the SKU number (invoices, catalogs, etc.).
Choose a format and stick to it.
Make it easy to understand: the letters and digits should have a meaning for the people within your business (i.e. S, M, L, XL).
Keep codes short: between eight and 12 characters.
Start with letter(s). It's easier to read and identify.
Use a combination of numbers or letters.

Dont's

Do not start with a zero or symbols that can be misread by humans or software.
Never use the same SKU for different products.
Avoid using a manufacturer's SKU. They are often too long and if you change suppliers, it becomes meaningless to your business.

SKU generator: the smart way to create SKUs

SKU generator illustration

You can choose to set your SKUs, by using a manual system or a generator. It really depends on the number of items, product lines, and variants you are dealing with.

If you're currently using manual spreadsheets, ensure you've listed all your products, including variants/options, so that you can then design your very own automated format of SKUs, one after the other.

Or, you can go for a more technological tool: a SKU generator! Perhaps you're imagining an old, infernal machine where you put all the information on one side and after 15 minutes of clunks and whistles, your codes are all sorted and ready to use!

It's actually far more advanced than that. An online generator will simplify the process of creating SKUs tremendously, but only if you have a clear idea of your priorities, including the list of variants needed within your system: type, brand, style, colour, size, gender, cost, material, season, and more.

Free SKU Generator: