Determine whether or not it is likely that you need to add more variations of the particular kind of item to our products SKU list in the future.

Examples of possible future different variations are: language, edition, date (event), place (event), color, size, etc.

Think about all of the information you will need to include and where in the SKU it should be placed.

Language: SKUs for printed items in different languages should begin with a 2-letter language code (EN = English, ES = Spanish, DE = German, JA = Japanese,  etc). Find the list of 2-letter language codes here: https://www.sitepoint.com/iso-2-letter-language-codes/

Edition: SKUs for second editions will be the same as the first edition but should indicate a 2 at the end or other obvious differentiation.

Date: SKUs for event tickets need to include the month and year to differentiate from other events.

Place: SKUs for event tickets need to include the city location to differentiate from other events.

Color: SKUs for items in different colors need to include the vendor's color reference in abbreviated form. (Don't just say Blue, for example. Use the vendor's specific wording so it is easy to know which Blue it really is for re-ordering.)

Size: SKUs for items in different sizes (T-shirts or supplements oz.) need to include an obvious way to know the size.

Be consistent in creating simple SKUs using a repeatable formula.

Here is an example: T-Shirts with lots of variables: 2 cuts (1 for mens, 1 for ladies), 2 necklines, 3 colors, and 6 sizes.

Here is a simple formula to create SKUs that capture all of the information: ITEM - CUT - NECKLINE - COLOR - SIZE

ITEM (T-Shirt) - CUT (Mens or Ladies) - NECKLINE (Crew or V-Neck) - COLOR (Heathered Charcoal or Royal Frost or Fuchsia Frost) - SIZE (XS, S, M, L, XL or 2XL)

T-Shirt - Mens - Crewneck - Heathered Charcoal color - Size XL   =   TS-MC-HC-XL

T-Shirt - Ladies - V-Neck - Fuchsia Frost - Size M   =   TS-LV-FF-M

T-Shirt - Ladies - V-Neck - Royal Frost - Size 2XL   =   TS-LV-RF-2XL