Supplier SKUs get renamed, reused, and retired. If your store is keyed to them, every supplier change becomes a catalog migration.

What belongs in a SKU

  • A stable category or product code
  • A variant dimension that does not change (color code, size code)
  • A sequence number

What does not belong

  • Price, stock level, or season — these change, and a SKU that encodes them becomes wrong
  • Supplier names or factory codes, which you may switch
  • Anything you cannot explain to a new hire in one sentence

A workable pattern

CAT-SEQ-COLOR-SIZE
BAG-014-BLK-M

Category, sequence, then variant attributes. Readable, sortable, and stable when the supplier changes.

Document it

Write the pattern down with two real examples and the rule for a new product. The test: can another operator create the next SKU without asking you? If not, the pattern is not documented enough.

SKU & Handle Generator applies a consistent prefix and zero-padded sequence while you type.