Tips for Creating Good SKU’s for your Cell Phone Store

Most inventory management systems for cell shops require that each unique item have it’s own SKU. Creating great SKU’s will make accessing your inventory from POS easy and intuitive. This quick article will give you the details on how to create great SKU’s for your cell phone shop inventory items by sharing today’s best practices.

What is a SKU?

A SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit and is sometimes called a product code.
SKU’s are an important part of creating inventory items in an inventory management system, and makes finding, referencing, and selling inventory items easier for you and your staff.

General rule:

SKU’s that are based on patterns are easier to create and to recall. Many cell phone store owners will create their SKU’s in this order: Product Category, Manufacturer, Product Model, Product Description, Product Detail.

• Product Categories - the main product types in your store (Ex. Accessories, Cell Phones and Devices, Parts, Labor…)
• Manufacturer - the name of the manufacturer that this product is associated with (Ex. Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony…)
• Product Model - this refers to the product model this SKU is for (Ex. iPhone 5, Nexus 7, Zenwatch 2…)
• Product Description - this describes the actual product that this SKU will represent (Ex. Defender Case, charging port, screen protector...)
• Product Detail - if necessary this section allows you to differentiate between similar products (Ex. Black, Small, Refurbished, Large)

Examples of good SKU’s

Here are some common examples of SKU’s used in cell phone sale are repair shops.

Accessory SKU examples:
Product: Black Dime Case 2 for Apple iPhone 5
Example SKU = AAPIPH5-DC2-B
Accessory, Apple iPhone 5, Dime Case 2, Black
Product: White Dime Case 2 for Apple iPhone 5
Example SKU = AAPIPH5-DC2-W
Accessory, Apple iPhone 5, Dime Case 2, White
Product: Pink Dime Case 2 for Apple iPhone 5
Example SKU = AAPIPH5-DC2-P
Accessory, Apple iPhone 5, Dime Case 2, Pink

Part SKU examples:
Product: White LCD Screen and Digitizer for Samsung Galaxy S4 i337
Example SKU = PSAI337-LCD-W
Part, Samsung Galaxy S4 i337 LCD Screen and Digitizer White
Product: Black LCD Screen and Digitizer for Samsung Galaxy S4 i337
Example SKU = PSAI337-LCD-B
Part, Samsung Galaxy S4 i337 LCD Screen and Digitizer Black

Repair SKU examples:
Product: Apple iPhone 5S/5C Screen Repair
Example SKU = RAPIPH5S-SCRN
Repair, Apple iPhone 5S/5C Screen Repair
Product: Apple iPhone 4S Screen Repair
Example SKU = RAPIPH4S-SCRN
Repair, Apple iPhone 4S Screen Repair

Cell Phone and Devices SKU examples:
Product: Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900W8 16GB Black A Grade
Example SKU = SASMG900W/16GB/BA
Cell Phone, Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900W8 16GB Black, A Grade
Product: Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900W8 16GB Black New
Example SKU = SASMG900W/16GB/BNew
Cell Phone, Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900W8 16GB Black, New

Tips

Use “Standard Repair” SKU for repairs on unpopular models as an alternative to creating a repair SKU for every possible item.
Standard Repair SKU = RSTDREPAIR

The SKU examples used above are general best practices used by cell phone shops when creating SKUs for products they manage. The big benefit by using these tips, is that from your POS simply typing “A” will display all accessories, “R” will display all repairs, and so on, making it easy to navigate through your growing inventory numbers.
Following these general rules will allow you to create easily referenceable SKUs that will enhance your inventory management system.
If you are looking for an inventory management system and POS for your cell phone shop, we encourage you to try CellStore Software ( www.cellstore.co ). CellStore provides store owners with POS, CRM, and inventory management at the best value on the market. Visit cellstore today!