SKU – Stock Keeping Unit
SKU or Stock Keeping Unit is one of the Jargon that I hear many times without knowing what it is in my early working life, together with PLU and Barcode concept make things more confusing. I hope this writing, you can avoid confusion like I had in the past.
What is SKU
Say I want to buy a liquid soap in Hypermarket, I go to liquid soap section, in there I will be facing lots of liquid soap product and brands. Considering they spend a lot of money advertising, I chose one brand from Unilever, Lux for example. This not make tings easier, I still have tons of options.
Should I buy white glamor, wake me up, velvet, soft kiss… GOD… I just want to buy a liquid soap!!!.. 
. OK OK.. since I never wake up early, I will buy “Wake me up” variant, but I still have to choose which pack size I want to buy… they are refill package, 100ml package and 250ml package.
My decision goes to Lux, Wake-Me-Up variant, 100ml pack size. In retailer database system they assigned a unique code for this very item. That unique code is what they called SKU. If you happen to know the code (sometime printed in the product, i.e SKU no:), you can mention the number and you will get the same product.
Mind you this SKU number is assigned by the retailer/merchant, asking the SKU number to different retailer will potentially give you totally different product or they can not find anything in their database.
Wait… I see Barcode in the product, isn’t it the same as SKU? Yes, sometime retailer use Barcode or part of it for their SKU code but it is not the same. Say retailer want to bundle “100ml, Lux, Wake Me Up” and “100ml, Lux, Soft-Kiss” for the price of one. As far as retailer concern, this bundle is one SKU, so they have one unique SKU number although the bundled products have different barcode.
BARCODE
Barcode is assigned by manufacture not by the retailer (with approval of GS1 organisation) . So if you mention the Barcode in different retailer, you will get exactly the same product.
What is PLU then? Well if you buy apple, did you see any Bar code? and there is no SKU in the apple. The retailer can’t assigned unique SKU number in every apple, as the apple will have different in size and weight. One bag of apple will have different weight as another bag… a nightmare for SKU and Barcode assignment.
Then it come the PLU
which stand for Price Look Up code. The number is assigned for produce (veggie, meats, fruits and others). So if you buy apple Malang, just grab a plastik bag, fill it in, give it to someone who will weight and print the PLU and the price to be scanned when you check out.
That’s it really… if you have question just shoot..
Cheers
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