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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Merchandising & Stock

SKU

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˌes keɪ ˈjuː/abbreviationCommon term

In sales & retail, SKU means: Stock keeping unit: a unique code a retailer gives to each version of a product, so that each size, colour or pack type can be tracked separately.

In Turkish: stok kodu, stok kalemi, ürün kodu

How it is used

Used in stock systems, buying and merchandising. A blue T-shirt in five sizes is five SKUs. People say it letter by letter or as one word, “skew”. Retailers talk about the number of SKUs in a range, or reducing SKUs to simplify stock.

Example sentences

  1. This shoe comes in eight sizes and three colours, so that's 24 SKUs.

  2. Scan the SKU on the label to check stock in other stores.

Common collocations

  • SKU number
  • number of SKUs
  • SKU level
  • reduce SKUs
  • inventoryAll the goods a business has in stock and available to sell, or a detailed list of them.
  • planogramA diagram that shows exactly where each product should be placed on a shelf or display, including how many items face the customer.
  • stocktakeA full count of all the goods a shop or warehouse has, done to check that the real stock matches the records.
  • price tagA small label attached to a product or shelf that shows how much it costs, often together with a barcode and product code.
  • out of stockNot available to buy at the moment because the shop or warehouse has none left.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Merchandising & Stock

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