SKU and UPC setup

Last updated: May 12, 2026

SKU and UPC setup

The SKU & UPC section helps brands clean product exports before onboarding. It is especially useful when a Shopify product export has inconsistent or missing SKUs and barcodes.

Shopify product export

Users can upload a Shopify product CSV. The tool reads product titles, handles, variant options, existing SKUs, and existing barcodes.

SKU generation

Users can generate SKUs from a pattern. Example for One Bone:

OB284-Gender-Type-Style-Color-Size-Version

Patterns can include fixed text, existing base SKU values, product attributes, variant options, and sequence/version values.

Style family matrix

Use the Style matrix SKU source when a brand has a structured family of styles and wants consistent SKUs across known colors and sizes. This is useful for apparel launches where one base style can exist in multiple colors and sizes.

Example:

OB120-M-TS-RED-N2-V1

In this example:

  • OB120 is the style root or style code.
  • M is the gender or fit group.
  • TS is the product type code.
  • RED is the normalized color code.
  • N2 represents size -2. Negative sizes are made SKU-safe by replacing the minus sign with N.
  • V1 is the version.

The user can select a style family from the uploaded Shopify export, then define:

  • style root,
  • gender code,
  • product type code,
  • version,
  • allowed colors,
  • allowed sizes,
  • whether existing SKUs should be overwritten.

Colors can be entered as one per line, either as a plain value or with an explicit code:

```text

Red=RED

Navy=NAVY

Green Floral=GREENF

```

Sizes can be entered as a range or list:

```text

-2 to 7

```

or:

```text

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

```

The matrix analyzes the uploaded Shopify variants and shows:

  • how many variants already exist in Shopify,
  • how many variants are expected from the color and size matrix,
  • how many existing rows match the matrix,
  • which color/size combinations are missing,
  • which existing rows fall outside the configured matrix.

Important: the tool patches SKUs on Shopify rows that already exist in the uploaded export. It does not create new Shopify variants. Missing combinations are shown in the report so the brand can decide whether to create those variants in Shopify.

UPC assignment

The tool can assign UPC/EAN-style barcodes to rows that need a barcode. Existing barcodes can be preserved unless the user intentionally overwrites them.

Preview and validation

Before exporting, users should review:

  • generated SKU,
  • existing SKU,
  • barcode,
  • title and variant,
  • duplicate SKUs,
  • missing values,
  • invalid barcode length or check digit issues.
  • missing style matrix color/size combinations,
  • extra variants outside the selected matrix.

Exports

Expected exports include:

  • patched Shopify CSV,
  • product master CSV,
  • SKU-location starter CSV,
  • WMS import files,
  • data quality report,
  • style matrix report CSV,
  • printable UPC labels.

Best practice

Do not overwrite a brand's real SKU nomenclature unless the brand has approved the new pattern. For one-off customer-specific rules, save the pattern in the project notes or onboarding documentation.

For style matrix work, ask the brand to confirm the source of truth for style code, gender/type code, color names, size range, and version before applying the generated SKUs to the Shopify-ready export.