Since SKUs are only used by your company, you get to create them however you want. However, most businesses try to structure their SKUs to convey relevant product details. For instance, a shoe store may assign the following SKU to a blue high heel:
12-Q120-BLU-09
Within the code, the “12” might refer to a specific manufacturer (for recall purposes, if needed) or the item type (high heel). The “Q120” might refer to the release date for the product (first quarter, 2019), while “BLU” refers to the shoe’s color and “09” refers to the size.
The tricky part is ensuring that each product has a unique SKU. For example, there might be some overlap If your store releases another blue high heel from the same manufacturer in the first quarter of 2020.
Fortunately, many inventory management software platforms include SKU management, which helps you keep your SKU architecture consistent across your business without repeating product codes.
And if you don’t want to sign up for inventory management software, there are still a lot of free SKU generators on the web—though you’ll have to set up a SKU system to manually monitor your codes to avoid duplication.