How to Generate SKUs in Shopify: A Complete Guide

When managing a Shopify store, one of the essential tasks is ensuring you have a solid inventory management system in place. This includes generating unique identifiers for your products called SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). SKUs help you track inventory, streamline order fulfillment and prevent errors in your catalog.

One of the most powerful tools to generate and manage your SKUs is the Retail Force Barcode & Labels app. This app allows you to customize SKU generation easily, saving your time and helping you maintain a smooth workflow. In this article, our Developer and Customer Support team explained how to set up SKU generation within the app, step by step and show you how you can fully use its features for optimal inventory management.

What is SKU Generation?

A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier for each product in your store, which helps differentiate products by characteristics such as size, color, style and vendor. SKUs are an essential part of inventory management, assisting you in tracking stock levels, identifying products quickly and managing the supply chain. 

Retail Force Barcode & Labels gives you the flexibility to generate your own SKUs using a customized pattern that aligns with your store’s needs.

Why Custom SKU Generation Matters

1. Consistency: Ensures all SKUs follow a consistent format across your entire store.
2. Organization: Makes it easier to track and identify products based on characteristics such as brand, type, and variants.
3. Efficiency: Automates the SKU creation process, saving time and effort in manual SKU entry.
4. Error Reduction: Prevents errors in inventory management by avoiding duplicate SKUs and giving you better control over product identification.

SKU Generation Setup

Now, let’s dive into the SKU Generation Setup within the Retail Force Barcode & Labels app.

Step 1: Accessing SKU Generation Settings

To begin customizing your SKU generation:

1. Go to your Shopify admin panel.
2. Navigate to Apps and select Retail Force Barcode & Labels.
3. Under Barcode & SKUs, click on SKU Generation.

Step 2: Customizing Your SKU Generation Settings

Once you are in the SKU Generation settings, you have several options to customize how SKUs will be structured.

a) Prevent SKU Duplicating

To ensure no two products share the same SKU, you can enable the "Prevent SKU duplicating" option. This guarantees that each SKU remains unique, preventing confusion and inventory errors.

b) SKU Pattern

The SKU Pattern field allows you to set a template for your SKUs, so each generated SKU follows a uniform structure. Here's how you can customize it:

1. Custom Text: This is the prefix or a specific text you want to add to every SKU. For example, you might use your store's initials like BP to signify the brand.
2. Product Name: You can choose to add part of the product name to the SKU, helping identify the item easily. For instance, ^3 will include the first 3 characters of the product's name. So, a product named Blue Shirt would generate a SKU like BLS-5000.
3. Variant Option: If your products come in multiple variants (such as different sizes or colors), you can include variant information in the SKU. For example, ^3 will pull the first 3 characters of the variant such as LAR for large size or RED for the color red.
4. Product Vendor: If you sell products from multiple suppliers, you can include the vendor’s name in the SKU, ensuring you can quickly track which supplier the item comes from.
5. Product Type: You can include the product type (e.g., shirt, pants) to provide further categorization within the SKU.

c) Auto Code Generation Mechanism

Now comes the fun part: how your SKU codes are generated.

• Randomly: This option will create a completely random SKU based on the pattern you have defined. This is great if you want an unpredictable yet structured SKU system.
• Sequentially: With this option, your SKUs will follow a sequential order, starting from the number you define (e.g., 5000). This is a great option for stores with large inventories where you want to keep track of the order in which products were added.

d) Starting Point for Auto Code Generation

In this section, you can specify where your SKU generation should start. For example, if you enter 5000, your first SKU will be 5000 and each subsequent SKU will increment from there. This feature is especially helpful when you want to keep a consistent numbering system across products.

e) Separator

You can choose a separator between different elements of your SKU. This could be a hyphen (-), underscore (_) or another symbol. For instance, a SKU generated with a separator might look like BP-5000-RED-SHIRT.

Step 3: Preview and Save Your Settings

Before saving your SKU generation pattern, make sure to preview it. The app will show you how your SKU will look based on your current settings. This is your chance to double-check the structure and make any necessary adjustments.

Once you are satisfied with the preview, click Save to apply your changes.

Example of a Customized SKU Pattern

Let’s say you want your SKUs to follow a specific pattern like this:

• Custom Text: BP
• Auto Code Starts From: 5000
• Product Name: ^3 (First 3 characters of the product name)
• Variant Option 1: ^3 (First 3 characters of the variant)
• Separator: -

If you sell a Red Large Shirt, the SKU would look like this:

• SKU: BP-5000-RED-SHIRT

This pattern makes it easy to identify the product’s brand, product type, size and color all from the SKU itself.

Step 4: Apply SKU Generation to Your Products

Once your SKU pattern is set up, you can start applying it to your products. This app allows you to generate SKUs for existing products, ensuring that everything is organized according to your new system. You can apply the new SKUs manually or in bulk, depending on how many products you need to update.

Conclusion

Customizing SKU generation in Retail Force Barcode & Labels is an easy yet powerful way to improve your inventory management system. By defining a clear, structured format for your SKUs, you ensure that your products are easily identifiable, reduce the chances of errors and increase operational efficiency. With the flexibility to tailor SKUs based on your brand, product types, variants and vendors, you can create a personalized SKU system that aligns with your store’s specific needs. Start setting up your SKU generation today and enjoy streamlined inventory management like never before.

Updated on: 16/01/2026