4 simple rules for streamlining your SKU system

This week’s post is on a definitively unsexy but very important topic, and it was actually inspired by one of our recent conversations with our customer, Snowe. Snowe is in the process of redoing their SKU system, an exercise that almost all of our customers go through as they grow. The main reason this happens is because when you start your business, you’re not quite sure exactly how it will grow and expand. What types of products will you be adding? Will you always stay in your chosen category? 

In the case of Snowe, their SKU renaming was prompted by several factors, according to Erica Peppers, Head of Product Development & Sourcing:

“We decided to overhaul our SKU system because the original structure we started with is no longer the right fit to scale with our business.  The two key components we considered were simplification and easy identification.  The system can be simplified, as our products don't need nearly the number of configurations as a product assortment that is narrow but deep.  Also, because we are not a seasonal or trend based company, our products are introduced with the intention of a long life span.  So rather than being just a series of letters and numbers, our SKU system should provide a reasonable degree of product identification at a glance. ”

While in some cases, renaming your SKUs is inevitable, there are several things you can do to make sure that your new system is successful and lasts you and your company for many years to come:

1. Don’t rely exclusively on marketing categories

In many cases, we see SKU systems that leverage the marketing category the company uses to communicate with customers about its products. From a marketing perspective, having a clear sense of categories of product and what they mean to the customer is critically important. But, these categories don’t always translate in a meaningful way to the operations side. For example, if you have a children’s clothing brand, you might have marketing categories along the lines of “play”, “sleep”, “celebrate”, and while these are useful to the consumer, the fact that the item is merchandised for play does not mean as much to the operations person as knowing that it is a red onesie at first glance.  

2. Keep it flat

It’s very easy to create a million categories and subcategories for each of your SKUs, but this causes additional confusion and complexity. Closely tied into the idea of avoiding using marketing categories for SKU naming, the more you can do with less, the better. Taking our baby products company again. We can have a red onesie with the SKU “ONS-RED-01” or “SLP-ONS-RED-01”. The more layers and depth you add, the more confusion and subjectivity you insert. For example, is our red onesie really for sleep, or is it for play? Instead of making it clear to all of your operations staff where the onesie belongs, you’ve now inserted subjectivity into the mix. With subjectivity comes room for disagreement and confusion. 

3. Make it mean something

While it is possible to use a sequence of letters and numbers that actually mean something, do it! If you can shorten colors to “BLU”, “GRN”, “YLW”, there’s no reason to create a numbering system that’s associated with every color. By creating SKUs that mean something, you can make it easy for anyone in the company, and especially members of the operations team, to take a look at the SKU at a glance and know exactly what it refers to. On the other hand, if each color has a specific number associated with it, there’s no way to sort through the data intuitively. Moreover, to create any kind of summary reports that mean something to someone who’s not fluent in the SKU system, you’ll need a complicated series of tables and excel formulas to translate the meaningless numbers and letters into something digestible. 

4. Make it your own

Finally, your suppliers will most certainly have their own SKU numbering system. The last thing you want to do is leverage their system and use it as your own. First, their SKU system is designed to do all of the above things we listed in items 1 - 3 but from the perspective of the supplier. Thus, what means something to them doesn’t necessarily mean something to you. Moreover, at some point, like you, they may find the need to redo their SKU system. If that happens, then the SKU system you’ve been relying on not only doesn’t exist, but it’s made your internal system completely meaningless. While it may seem like more work, having your own system is very worthwhile.

In general, we see this happen a lot with young companies - renaming SKUs is part of the journey and the growing pains. Regardless of where and how big your business is, we’re here to help you focus on your business, not your inventory.