SKU Aliases
When you are selling on multiple channels, it is not always possible that the products have unique SKU codes across all the sites. SKU Alias is a feature that helps you link different SKUs to one parent SKU so that your inventory is centralized in TradeGecko.
Understanding Amazon SKUs
SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, a unique code that is assigned to each variant in a business’ inventory. SKUs are used globally and by Amazon so that businesses can identify items and keep track of their locations easily.
Wondering what SKU means? Start learning about it here.
There are two ways to set up your SKUs on Amazon
1Create your own SKUs
- Allows you to tailor your code in such a way that it provides key information about your product (e.g. manufacturer, condition, color)
2Let Amazon autogenerate one for you
- Amazon generates an arbitrary unique SKU number
- If you have multiple Amazon stores, Amazon will create different SKUs for each store even if the product type is the same
Once an SKU is created on Amazon, it cannot be easily changed. The only way to change an SKU is to delete the item from the catalog and re-submit with a new SKU. However, this erases all sales data associated with the product which can impact your product placement on the site.
Amazon SKU Alias in TradeGecko
You might already have products and SKUs set up in TradeGecko by the time you want to install a new Amazon channel. For the same variant, the SKU that exists in TradeGecko may not be identical to the one that exists on your Amazon account especially if you have opted to let Amazon autogenerate SKUs for you.
This is where our Amazon SKU Alias comes into play. Amazon SKU aliases allow TradeGecko and Amazon to interact seamlessly by recognizing that a variant in the inventory system is referenced by a different SKU on Amazon.
How to set up Amazon SKU aliases
Scenario 1: You have not installed and integrated Amazon with TradeGecko
When you install a new Amazon channel, our system automatically detects SKU differences between your Amazon listing and pre-existing TradeGecko inventory.
Click on ‘Download a list of your TradeGecko variants’. In the same .csv file, you will see a column with your channel name and another to specify what the corresponding SKU aliases on Amazon are.
For the column with your Amazon channel name, set the cell to 'TRUE' for variants that you wish to link between Amazon and TradeGecko via the alias specified.
Once the file is updated, use the product update function to update these aliases in TradeGecko’s inventory. From the main navigation bar, click on the Inventory tab followed by 'Products'.
Click on the Bulk Manage dropdown button on the top right, and select either 'Import New Products' or 'Update Existing Products' to access the product update function.
Select 'Yes, I have a spreadsheet with updated product data ready to upload'. Then, upload the .csv file that you just updated.
Once the upload is complete, you should see your aliases updated at the individual variant level.
Scenario 2: You have an existing Amazon integration
Simply use the product uploader to update your Amazon aliases in TradeGecko’s inventory.
From the main navigation bar, click on the Inventory tab followed by 'Products'.
Click on the Bulk Manage dropdown button on the top right, and select either 'Import New Products' or 'Update Existing Products' to access the product update function.
Select 'No, I need to download a list of my products'. You will be redirected to a screen where you can select product attributes to update.
Under Sales Channels, check the Amazon channel that you wish to set up aliases for and click on 'Build Product Sheet' to download a .csv file of your TradeGecko products.
In the same .csv file, you will see a column with your channel name and another to specify what the corresponding SKU aliases on Amazon are.
For the column with your Amazon channel name, set the cell to 'TRUE' for variants that you wish to link between Amazon and TradeGecko via the alias specified.
After the .csv file has been updated, click on 'Upload Filled CSV' to upload your Amazon SKU aliases into TradeGecko.
Once the upload is complete, you should see your aliases updated at the individual variant level.
☝🏽 For example
Take for instance you have two Amazon products having different SKUs and SKU aliases but sharing the same ASIN, we will check for both ASIN and SKUs during the order import process.
e.g.:
SKU 1 - ASIN is DI6098BOM9
SKU 2 - ASIN is DI6098BOM9
TradeGecko will first match by ASIN. If it finds multiple matches such as the example above, we will then match using the product SKU. As each product always has a unique SKU, the right product will be updated accordingly with the order.