> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SKU Coverage, BigCommerce > SKU Coverage for BigCommerce stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The catalog completeness card. Tracks the percentage of products in the BC catalog that have all critical fields populated: SKU, price, weight, image, description, category, and stock-tracking. Catalog completeness is invisible until it costs money: a SKU without a weight breaks shipping calculation; a SKU without a category drops out of category-page navigation; a SKU without an image converts at near-zero. **BigCommerce's bulk catalog API differs from Shopify's products endpoint** in a meaningful way: BC's catalog is variant-first (every variant has its own SKU, weight, price), where Shopify's is product-first (variants share parent metadata). This card audits each SKU individually, surfacing variant-level gaps that often hide on Shopify-style audits. | | | | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(SKUs WHERE all_critical_fields_populated) / COUNT(SKUs)` evaluated in real-time on the current catalog snapshot. Critical fields are: `sku` (non-empty), `price` (non-zero), `weight` (non-zero), `images[]` (at least one), `description` (>50 characters), `categories[]` (at least one), `inventory_tracking` (set if `inventory_level > 0` is needed). | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a, this is a catalog audit metric. | | **Shipping** | n/a; weight gaps will break shipping calculation. | | **Discounts** | n/a. | | **Refunds** | n/a. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | n/a. | | **Currency** | Multi-currency stores need each currency-specific price field populated; missing per-currency price is a coverage gap. | | **Channels / sources** | **Per-channel coverage matters on BC.** A SKU might be complete for the web channel but missing the Amazon-specific listing fields (Amazon ASIN, Amazon category mapping). The card defaults to web (`channel_id = 1`) coverage; toggle to per-channel for full audit. | | **BC bulk catalog API caveat** | BigCommerce's Catalog API v3 returns up to 250 products per page with a separate variants endpoint (`/catalog/products/{id}/variants`). Coverage audits must walk both endpoints to catch variant-level gaps; products that look complete at the parent level frequently have variants missing weight or images. | | **B2B Edition price-list caveat** | Stores using B2B Edition customer-group price lists need each price list populated. A SKU with only the public price set, no B2B price, will show as a coverage gap on the B2B portal even though it appears complete on web. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, refreshed each catalog sync; typically every 15-30 minutes). | | **Alert trigger** | `<95% (SKUs missing)`. Most healthy stores sit at 97-99%; below 95% indicates structural catalog hygiene issues. | | **Sentiment key** | `sku_coverage` | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK home-fragrance brand on BigCommerce, 412 SKUs in the catalog, snapshot 13 May 26. | Critical field | SKUs populated | Coverage % | Gap impact | | --------------------------------- | -------------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | SKU code (unique) | 412 / 412 | 100% | n/a (cannot exist as catalog item without) | | Price | 408 / 412 | 99.0% | 4 SKUs uncheckoutable | | Weight | 386 / 412 | 93.7% | 26 SKUs break shipping calculation | | At least one image | 401 / 412 | 97.3% | 11 SKUs have no visual; convert at \~5% normal rate | | Description >50 chars | 372 / 412 | 90.3% | 40 SKUs have minimal SEO surface | | At least one category | 405 / 412 | 98.3% | 7 SKUs missing from category navigation | | Inventory tracking enabled | 388 / 412 | 94.2% | 24 SKUs may show as in-stock when sold out | | **All critical fields populated** | **352 / 412** | **85.4%** | **60 SKUs have at least one gap** | What's interesting: 1. **85.4% blended coverage triggers the alert.** This sounds bad but most BC stores see this once they actually audit; field-by-field 90%+ rates feel healthy until you intersect them and find 60 SKUs with at least one gap. 2. **Weight is the #1 gap on most BC stores.** 26 SKUs without weight = 26 SKUs where shipping calculation falls back to a default rate, almost always wrong (overcharging customers and causing checkout abandonment, or undercharging and absorbing shipping cost). **This is the highest-leverage gap to close**: weight data takes 30 seconds per SKU. 3. **Description gap (40 SKUs at 90.3%)** is the SEO leakage. Each missing description is a category-page item that ranks poorly in search. **Use AI generation as a first pass** (BC has plugins for this); aim for 100-200 words per SKU minimum. 4. **The 4 SKUs without price are catalog failures.** Customers can't check out; product-page traffic is wasted. **Audit these immediately**; either set the price or unpublish the SKU. 5. **Variant-level gaps hide here.** The 412 SKU count includes variants; on a parent-product audit (Shopify-style), the gap rate would look much better (\~95%+). BC's variant-first model is more honest because each variant must independently satisfy fulfilment requirements. Action playbook this card surfaces: 1. **Fix the 4 SKUs without price** today. They are catalog failures and pure leakage. 2. **Bulk-update weight data** for the 26 missing SKUs. Use the Catalog v3 bulk-update API or the BC CSV export/import flow. 3. **Run AI description generation** on the 40 missing-description SKUs. Even rough first-pass content lifts SEO surface meaningfully. 4. **Add at least one image** to the 11 missing-image SKUs. Use BC's free product-photography library or a quick photo-shoot for hero SKUs. 5. **Audit category mapping** for the 7 missing-category SKUs. They're invisible on category pages, drop traffic to zero. 6. **Schedule a quarterly catalog audit cycle** to keep coverage above 95%. New SKUs accumulate gaps over time; without periodic audit, coverage degrades. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with SKU Coverage | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [BC Missing Descriptions](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/products-missing-description) | The dedicated description-gap card. SKU coverage rolls description into a single field; that card breaks it down. | | [BC Missing SEO](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/missing-seo-title-count) | SEO-specific completeness (meta titles, alt text, open-graph). | | [BC Product Status](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/product-status) | Flags inactive vs active SKUs. Inactive SKUs are sometimes the source of coverage gaps (legacy items still indexed). | | [BC Inventory Alerts](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/products-with-zero-negative-stock) | Coverage feeds inventory accuracy; SKUs without inventory tracking show false in-stock. | | [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/email-health) | Customer-side data hygiene parallel; this card is product-side data hygiene. | | [BC Top Products](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-products-by-revenue) | Hero SKUs should always be 100% complete; cross-reference to confirm. | | [BC Bottom Products](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/slow-moving-products) | Tail SKUs are often the source of coverage gaps; this is where to focus or where to delist. | | [Collection Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/collection-category-count) | Category-page completeness. SKUs missing categories don't appear; fix here cascades. | | [BC File Types](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/file-library-by-type) | Image-asset audit. Image gaps in SKU coverage tie back to underlying file management. | | [Fulfillment Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/fulfillment-rate) | Weight gaps cause shipping-calculation errors which cause cancellations; coverage gap leads to fulfilment problems. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce's own dashboard:** BigCommerce doesn't expose a SKU-coverage rollup natively. The closest tools: * **Catalog audit:** BC Control Panel → Products → View Products. Use the column toggles to surface price, weight, image count, and category. Sort or filter for missing values. * **Bulk export:** Settings → Data Solutions → Export → Products. The CSV exposes every field; pivot in spreadsheet to find gaps. * **Per-channel completeness:** Channel Manager → (channel) → Products tab shows channel-specific listing health (Amazon ASIN mappings, Facebook Shop fields). For Plus and Enterprise tiers, the **Insights → Catalog Health** report (where available) approximates this card; not all stores have it. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the vendor's:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | --------------------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Field-completeness definition** | Either | We treat description as "populated" if >50 chars; BC's catalog health may have a different threshold (10 chars or any non-empty). | | **Variant inclusion** | Either | We include variants as separate SKUs; BC's product list view aggregates parent-product info. Variant-level gaps inflate our denominator and thus our gap count. | | **Inactive SKUs** | Either | We default to *active* SKUs only; BC catalog views may include hidden/inactive items. | | **Sync lag** | Trivial | Catalog sync every 15-30 min; recently edited SKUs may not be in our snapshot yet. | | **Channel-specific fields** | Either | Per-channel listing fields (Amazon ASIN, Facebook category) are channel-specific; web-only audit ignores them. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** This is BC-native; no direct cross-connector twin. The closest is Klaviyo's catalog feed health metric, which audits the subset of SKUs syncing into Klaviyo for product-recommendation use. ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) SKU coverage exists on Shopify and Adobe Commerce with similar definition but different field-set criteria. Shopify's product-first model means coverage audits often appear cleaner (parent-level fields complete) but variant-level gaps hide; BC's variant-first model is more honest. * [`shopify.sku_coverage`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/sku-coverage) * [`adobe_commerce.sku_coverage`](/nerve-centre/adobe_commerce/sku_coverage)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **My catalog has 412 SKUs but BC product list shows 250, why the difference?** We count variants individually; BC's product list aggregates by parent product. A product with 5 size variants is 5 SKUs in our count, 1 in BC's product list. Use the variant-level export for direct comparison. **Why is weight the most-missing field?** Because weight is required for shipping calculation, isn't visible on the product page, and merchants forget to populate it for digital, gift card, or service-style products that don't actually ship. BC's catalog allows weight = 0 but most carriers reject 0-weight shipping requests; the safe default is 0.1 lb / 50g for non-physical SKUs. **Should I worry about missing descriptions?** Yes for SEO and conversion. A SKU with only a 20-char description ranks poorly on Google, has minimal information for the customer, and converts at 30-50% of the rate of a complete-description SKU. **Fix description gaps with AI generation as a first pass**, then human-edit the top 20% by traffic. **My coverage was 95% last month and now it's 85%, what happened?** Almost certainly a bulk import added new SKUs without all fields populated. Check Settings → Data Solutions → Import History; new SKUs from CSV imports often miss weight, image, or description. Audit the most-recent import. **Can I see which specific SKUs are missing fields?** Yes via Ask Viq: "list SKUs with missing weight". Returns a CSV of SKU codes and the gaps; useful for bulk-edit workflows. **My variant SKUs all show as missing description, even though the parent has one. Why?** BC stores description at the parent product level by default; variants inherit. Our coverage audit checks the variant directly; if you've explicitly set a variant description and it's empty, we flag the gap. **Most stores don't need variant-level descriptions**; configure the audit to inherit from parent in card settings. **Should the alert threshold be 95% or 99%?** Depends on catalog size. Small catalogues (\<200 SKUs): 99% achievable, 95% is sloppy. Large catalogues (10k+ SKUs): 95% is realistic, 99% takes systematic ops investment. Tune to your catalog size. **Why is my Amazon channel showing lower coverage than web?** Amazon listings require additional fields (ASIN, Amazon category, FBA flag) that web doesn't. A SKU complete for web may be missing Amazon-specific fields. Check Channel Manager → Amazon → Products tab. **My B2B Edition portal shows missing prices but I have a B2B price list, why?** The audit checks the *default* price list. If your B2B price list isn't set as the customer-group default, SKUs may show no price for B2B-eligible customer groups. Check Customer Groups settings. **Can I exclude inactive SKUs from the audit?** Yes, that's the default. We only audit `is_visible = true` SKUs. To force-include inactive: card settings → "Include all SKUs (including inactive)". **How does this interact with bulk catalog imports?** A bulk import drops coverage immediately if the imported CSV is missing fields. Build CSV templates with all critical fields as required columns; reject imports that don't conform. Most import-related coverage drops are preventable. **Should I delete SKUs that are persistently missing fields?** If a SKU has been live for 30+ days with persistent gaps, the better question is "is this SKU worth selling?". Most chronic-gap SKUs are legacy items with no recent sales; mark them inactive and let the catalog cleanup happen organically. **My coverage dropped right after a Channel Manager activation, why?** Activating a new channel adds new fields to the audit (channel-specific listing data). The same SKUs that were complete for web become incomplete for the new channel. **Plan a coverage-completion sprint immediately after activating any new channel.** **Does this card respect store time zone?** Snapshots are taken at sync time (UTC). The "current" coverage is always within 15-30 min of real-time regardless of time zone. **Can I track coverage over time?** Yes via Ask Viq: "show SKU coverage trend over last 90 days". Useful for spotting hygiene degradation. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *SKU Coverage* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.