Generate SKUs for every product and variant.
Paste your products, one per line with their colour and size. The generator builds a readable SKU for each from its name and options, makes sure no two are the same, and gives you a spreadsheet. Already have SKUs? Paste them in to find duplicates and the formats that cause trouble.
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Generate SKUs
Check existing SKUs
The free RankX AI Shopify app works inside Shopify admin, where alt text, barcodes and search titles live. Fix one product or many at once, and undo any change with one click.
New listing copy proposed beside the current words and written to WooCommerce after you approve it. 7-day trial with 1,000 credits. No credit card.
On Shopify, the free RankX AI app fixes products inside Shopify admin: fix one product or many at once, and undo any change with one click. On WooCommerce: new listing copy proposed beside the current words and written to WooCommerce after you approve it.
How it builds them
Readable SKUs that say what the product is
A good SKU lets anyone in the warehouse or the spreadsheet tell products apart at a glance. The generator builds each one from the product and its options, in the order you would read them, and makes sure no two lines get the same SKU.
1. Prefix
Brand or category
Optional letters at the start, such as JN for your brand or MUG for a category, so related products sort together.
2. Product
Letters from the name
Juniper Linen Shirt becomes JLS. Small words such as “and” and “with” are skipped.
3. Options
Colour and size
Common colours get standard codes (Navy is NVY, Black is BLK), sizes stay as they are (M, XL), and anything else is shortened to three letters.
4. Unique
Never repeated
If two lines would get the same SKU, the second gets a number. An optional running number can go on every line.
SKU best practice
The rules the checker applies
From Shopify’s and Lightspeed’s published guidance on SKUs, and the identifier limits in Google Merchant Center.
Start
With a letter
A SKU starting with a zero loses it when a spreadsheet reads it as a number. Start with letters.
Length
8 to 12 characters
Long enough to say what the product is, short enough to read and type. Google Merchant Center reads an id of up to 50.
Characters
Letters, numbers, hyphens
No spaces or symbols, and no O beside 0 or I beside 1.
Your own
Not a barcode
Keep the GTIN in its own field, and never reuse a SKU for a new product. Check barcodes with the GTIN Checker.
Questions
About the SKU Generator
What is a SKU?
A stock keeping unit: your own code for one product or one variant, such as a shirt in navy, size medium. Unlike a barcode number, which comes from GS1, you make your SKUs up, so they can say what the product is.
How does the SKU generator build a SKU?
From an optional prefix, letters from the product name and a short code for each option. Juniper Linen Shirt in Navy, size M becomes JLS-NVY-M, or JN-JLS-NVY-M with a JN prefix. Common colours get standard codes and sizes stay as they are. If two lines would give the same SKU, the second gets a number.
What makes a good SKU?
Shopify and Lightspeed both recommend 8 to 12 characters, starting with a letter, using only letters, numbers and hyphens, avoiding characters that look alike such as O and 0, and never reusing a SKU for a different product.
Can I use the barcode number as the SKU?
It is better not to. The GTIN belongs in its own barcode field, where Google and marketplaces look for it. A SKU should be your own code, so it still works for products with no barcode and does not change if a supplier changes theirs.
What does the SKU checker look for?
SKUs used more than once, spaces, symbols, leading zeros that spreadsheets drop, numbers a spreadsheet has turned into scientific notation, SKUs over 50 characters that Google Merchant Center cannot read as an id, and barcodes used as SKUs.
How do I add the SKUs to my store?
Download the CSV, then on Shopify add them to each variant under Inventory, or import them with a product CSV. On WooCommerce, add them in each product’s Inventory tab, or import them with the product importer. The free Ecommerce SEO Audit then finds any product still missing one.
More free tools for online stores
Check the rest of your store
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Fix it once. Keep it fixed.
These checks show you what is wrong today. RankX AI checks your store for you, fixes products with your approval, and shows whether ChatGPT and Google AI Mode recommend them.
- ShopifyAn app inside your Shopify admin
- WooCommerceThe RankX AI web app, connected to your WordPress site
- Other websitesThe RankX AI web app
7-day free trial. No credit card required. On Shopify, install the app and Shopify bills your plan.