Glossary · concept
SKU
Each distinct product variant — by size, color, pack, flavor or supplier — that an inventory system tracks separately under its own unique code.
Stock Keeping UnitStock Item CodeInventory Unit
A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is the smallest inventory entity that a stock control system treats as a separate item for purchasing, sales and counting. The same product in different size, color, pack-size or batch is a separate SKU — a single t-shirt model sold in S/M/L/XL and four colors yields 16 SKUs. In operations research, the SKU is the unit of analysis for almost every inventory problem: demand forecasting (#021), order quantity decisions (#093 EOQ), reorder-point policies (#004 (s,S)), warehouse slotting and picker routing (#041), and assortment planning (#017) are all SKU-level computations. SMB inventories typically range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of SKUs. ABC analysis classifies them into fast/medium/slow movers, and each class receives a different stocking policy, count frequency and shelf-location priority. SKUs are physically labeled with barcodes or QR codes, and every SKU in the ERP holds attributes such as cost, supplier, lead time and minimum order quantity (MOQ). Adding new SKUs is 'assortment expansion' and creates marginal carrying cost; SKU rationalization — pruning long-tail items — is therefore a recurring management decision.
Örnek
A hardware wholesaler with 8,000 SKUs runs an ABC analysis: 20% of SKUs (1,600 items) generate 80% of annual revenue. A-class is counted weekly and slotted near the dispatch zone; the 3,200 C-class SKUs are counted quarterly and stored in remote racks — total cycle-count labor drops 40%.