Barcodes Decoded: Your Beginners Guide to ASINs, UPCs, EANs, and SKUs
Whether you’re launching your e-commerce business on Amazon, Walmart, Shopify or eBay, you’ll need to add product identifiers to list your items and manage inventory. To be successful, it’s important that you understand what these product identifiers mean, and when you’ll need to use them.
What is a barcode, and why is it useful?
Let’s start off with the basics. A barcode is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Two of the most popular types of barcodes are 1D (1-dimensional) and 2D (2-dimensional). 1D barcodes represent data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines. 2D barcodes utilize squares, dots and other shapes to represent data.
Most commonly used are 1D barcodes, which consist of black vertical lines with numbers below it. When scanned, the barcode shows information about what a product is, what country it’s from, and who made it.
Barcodes are extremely useful because they allow you to quickly get information about a product. They eliminate the chance of human-error, simplify inventory management and tracking, and help businesses run more efficiently.
What is a UPC?
UPC stands for Universal Product Code. It’s one of the most popular product-identifiers that can be found on nearly every product in the United States and Canada. Each UPC consists of two parts:
A series of vertical black lines that is unique to every product and can be read by a barcode scanner
A unique 12-digit number found below the black lines that can be entered in a UPC lookup
Two products can never be associated with the same UPC code, and each product must have its own UPC code.
How do I get a UPC code?
If you want to sell your products through a large marketplace like Amazon, it is required that you have a UPC code. You can obtain a UPC code through working with GS1, the Global Standard Organization. You will need to apply to become part of their system, and you will be assigned with a company prefix number. You may then use a UPC generator to receive a unique product number each product.
What is a SKU?
SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, which is a unique alphanumeric code that each item receives from it’s retailer. In short, the SKU can be whatever you, the creator the SKU, want it to be. This also means that unlike the UPC, the SKU is not universal.
SKU codes are typically generated to better keep track of inventory, and to be able to better differentiate between items. Different colors, sizes and models could all receive their own unique SKU that is decided by you.
Are SKUs and barcodes the same?
A SKU is another type of barcode but is not universal like a UPC. SKUs mostly exist so that retailers can manage their own inventory.
What is an ASIN?
ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number. Each product sold on Amazon.com is given its own unique 10-character ASIN by Amazon, and Amazon has been using this system since 1996. The system was created so that Amazon could keep track of its rapidly growing inventory and easily identify products on their platform.
The only products on Amazon that don’t have an ASIN are books- those are identified with a 10-digit ISBN (International Standard Book Number).
Learn more about ASINs in this blog post: “Amazon Seller Basics: What’s an ASIN?” by Caitlin Banas
How do I get an ASIN?
Amazon will automatically assign your product with ASIN when you create a new listing. The ASIN can be found in various places in Seller Central, the Product Display Page, and the product listing URL.
What is a GTIN?
GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number, which is given to products for universal identification. The number can be used globally and, depending on it’s form, will contain between 8 and 14 digits. GTIN is the general term that combines common barcodes like UPC and ISBN.
These are the different forms of GTIN depending on the product and where it’s being sold:
UPC (Universal Product Code)
ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
EAN (European Article Number)
JAN (Japanese Article Number)
What is an FNSKU?
Like the ASIN, this one is Amazon-only. FNSKU stands for Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit. Whenever a seller uses FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) this barcode is generated by Amazon to identify the product that is being sent into their fulfillment centers.
Each unique item will be assigned an FNSKU and they are automatically generated by Amazon when products are set as FBA.
Caitlin Banas
Caitlin serves as the main point of contact for clients and project manages their custom growth strategies. Caitlin‘s experience working in a variety of marketing roles across multiple channels has allowed her to gain a big-picture perspective when working with clients to propel their brand forward.
