What does the acronym SKU stand for in inventory management?

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, the distinct item or product variation that a business tracks in inventory.

A SKU can identify differences such as brand, size, color, packaging, or warranty terms. A blue medium shirt and a red large shirt may therefore have separate SKUs, even though they belong to the same product line. Retailers use SKUs to count stock, set reorder points, locate goods, and analyze sales.

A common mix-up is treating a SKU as a universal product code. SKUs are created and controlled by individual businesses, so the same product may have different SKUs at different retailers. By contrast, identifiers such as UPC, EAN, and other GTINs are standardized for broader commercial tracking. A SKU may be represented by a barcode, but the barcode is only the machine-readable format, not the meaning of the acronym.

The term is also used for purchasable variations of digital services, including cloud-computing plans.