What Is a SKU in Ecommerce? (Often Searched as "SKEW")

People often search "skew" because SKU is usually pronounced "skew", though the term is written S-K-U. A SKU is assigned by the seller, not a global standard, so the same product can have different SKUs at different stores. A t-shirt sold in three sizes and four colours is one product but twelve SKUs, each with its own stock count and, if needed, its own price.

SKUs are different from barcodes. A UPC or EAN is a manufacturer-level product identifier that is the same across retailers, while a SKU is internal to your business. Many stores keep both: the SKU for their own inventory and the barcode for scanning and marketplace listings. A readable SKU scheme usually encodes useful attributes, for example TSHIRT-BLK-M for a black medium t-shirt, and stays consistent so reports, warehouse staff and integrations all read it the same way.

For marketing, SKUs matter because product feeds and ad catalogs are built from them. Each variant row in a product feed typically carries an ID, and platforms use it to match ads to inventory (see what-is-a-product-feed). Messy or duplicated SKUs cause feed errors, wrong stock status in ads and unreliable reporting on which items actually sell. Tracking revenue and margin per SKU also shows which variants deserve ad budget and which are tying up inventory.

Infinall AI works from a product URL, not from your inventory system, so it does not read, manage or sync SKUs, stock levels or catalogs. It researches the product page, builds strategy and drafts ad copy and creative that land in an Approval Queue for you to edit and approve before export. Where SKUs touch Infinall's work is indirectly: if you have a clear hero product or a variant that sells best, that is the page to point Infinall at, and you decide which items get creative. Anything that needs per-SKU automation, such as catalog-driven ads, is handled in your store and ad platform, not by Infinall.