Shopify SKU and Barcode: Create, Format and Use Both

In Shopify, a SKU is your own internal code for a product variant, used to track stock and read sales reports, while a barcode is a scannable code, often a GTIN such as a UPC or EAN, used by scanners, marketplaces and warehouses. Each variant can have both, in the SKU and Barcode fields of its Inventory section. SKUs are optional but worth having from the first product, and a format that encodes the product’s attributes lasts as the catalog grows.

The guidance below comes from Shopify’s Help Center pages on SKUs and barcodes, read on October 23, 2026.

SKU vs barcode

In Shopify POS you can find a product by scanning or searching any of its barcodes, or its SKU, so the two work side by side.

Create SKUs that last

Shopify’s best practices for SKUs:

• Characters: numbers, or numbers and letters. Avoid formats where 0 and 1 can be confused with O and I, and skip special characters, symbols and spaces, which cause search problems. Dashes and underscores are fine for separating attributes.
• Length: as short as possible, ideally no more than 16 characters; 4 to 8 can be enough for a small range.
• Consistency: every letter and number has a purpose, and abbreviations mean the same thing everywhere. If BLK means black on one product, it means black on all of them.
• Uniqueness: no two variants share a SKU. A shirt in 3 sizes and 4 colors needs 12 SKUs.
• Room to grow: a format that works for 100 products should still work at 1,000.

Shopify gives two example formats. An apparel store uses a hyphenated numeric format for brand, style and size, so 4225-776-3234 is brand 4225, boot-cut style 776, size 32x34. A pen maker uses ###_###_## for wood, ink and point, so WAL_BLK_25 is a walnut pen with black ink and a 2.5 mm point.

Building one for your own store takes three decisions: which attributes your staff need to read from the code (category, product, color, size are the common ones), the order they go in, and a fixed abbreviation list kept somewhere the whole team can see. A coffee roaster might use COF-ETH-250-WB for Ethiopian, 250 g, whole bean; adding a grind or a size later takes one new abbreviation.

To add a SKU, open the product, click the variant in Variants, click SKU in Inventory, enter it and Save. If Shopify detects a duplicate, it shows a warning in the Inventory section; you can ignore it only where a duplicate is intentional, such as for some bundle setups. Use the same SKU for a variant at every location and track the stock per location; that’s what makes transfers and store-wide reports work.

SKUs added after an order was placed don’t appear in that order’s historical reports, so set them up before you start selling where you can. Customers can search the storefront by SKU only if you install Search & Discovery or edit the theme.

Barcodes: GTIN, UPC, EAN and your own

A GTIN is the internationally recognized number printed under a retail barcode. The common types:

GS1, a not-for-profit organization, maintains these standards. Shopify lists the cases where barcodes may be required: selling on online marketplaces, selling wholesale to retail stores, and sending products through a warehouse or fulfillment service. If none applies, in our view an internal Code 128 barcode that encodes your SKU is enough for scanning in your own stockroom.

Print and place barcodes

Shopify’s printing guidelines: print at 300 DPI or higher, print one test sheet before a batch, put the number under the symbol so a damaged barcode can still be read by eye, make it at least 1.5 inches wide by 1 inch tall, use black or another dark ink (not red or brown), and give each variant its own barcode.

For placement: keep the barcode flat and unfolded, don’t cover it with tape or shrink wrap, keep stickers and text away from it, never cut off its top or bottom, and put only one barcode on a product. Labels suit small businesses without direct printing; hangtags suit apparel and products a label’s adhesive could damage. Scanner choice is covered in warehouse equipment.

Fill SKUs for many variants

Shopify’s bulk editor and a product CSV both edit SKUs for many products at once. For rules across a filtered set of variants, our Bulk Product Edit app sets the SKU and barcode fields in bulk; the steps are in bulk edit SKUs and barcodes. Variant setup itself is covered in Shopify product variants, and the rest of the catalog topics in the inventory and catalog hub.

FAQ

What is the difference between a SKU and a barcode in Shopify? A SKU is an internal code you create to track stock and sales. A barcode is a scannable code, often a GTIN such as a UPC or EAN, used by scanners, marketplaces and warehouses. A variant can have both.

Does every Shopify product need a SKU? SKUs are optional, but Shopify recommends unique SKUs for tracking, reporting and app integrations, and Shopify Fulfillment Network requires a unique SKU for each variant.

How long should a SKU be? Shopify suggests keeping SKUs as short as possible, no more than about 16 characters, without spaces or special characters.

Do I need a UPC barcode to sell on Shopify? Your own online store doesn’t require one. Shopify lists online marketplaces, wholesale to retail stores and warehouses or fulfillment services as the cases where barcodes may be required.