> ## 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, Shopify > Variants with a populated SKU. Below 95% breaks marketplace + 3PL integrations. 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) > Variants with a populated SKU. Below 95% breaks marketplace + 3PL integrations. ## At a glance > Percentage of active variants with a populated SKU string. Below 95% breaks marketplace integrations (Amazon, eBay), 3PL feeds, and inventory-management apps that key off SKU. | | | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(active variants WHERE sku IS NOT NULL AND sku != '') ÷ COUNT(active variants) × 100`. Each variant is one count regardless of price or velocity. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | Not applicable, count metric. | | **Shipping** | Not applicable. | | **Discounts** | Not applicable. | | **Refunds** | Not applicable. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Not applicable. | | **Currency** | Not applicable. | | **Channels / sources** | Inventory state is store-wide. Some marketplace channels require SKUs to publish; missing-SKU variants are silently dropped from those channels. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, computed from latest indexed catalogue snapshot). | | **Alert trigger** | `<95%`, sustained coverage below 95% trips the `sku_coverage` sentiment key. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Shopify 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 homewares brand on Shopify, \~2,400 active variants. Snapshot 12 May 26. | Bucket | Variant count | Share | | ----------------------------------- | ------------- | -------- | | Active variants with populated SKU | 2,160 | 90.0% | | Active variants with empty/null SKU | 240 | 10.0% | | **Total active variants** | **2,400** | **100%** | The card reads `90.0%`, **5 ppt below the 95% alert threshold**. Six things to notice: 1. **The alert is firing.** Coverage \<95% means downstream integrations have gaps: Amazon will reject 240 variants on next feed sync; the 3PL won't receive SKUs for those variants and pickers will see "unnamed item" labels. 2. **Most missing SKUs are recent additions.** Drill-down typically shows 70-80% of the missing-SKU variants were added in the last 30 days. The team adds products fast and forgets to populate SKU. Audit the product-creation workflow. 3. **Some are intentional.** Bundle variants, gift cards, and digital products often don't need SKUs by some teams' conventions. If those are the missing 240, the threshold is misconfigured; tune to exclude `productType IN ('Gift Card','Digital','Bundle')`. 4. **Marketplace impact is silent.** When a Shopify-Amazon-Connector pushes an inventory feed, missing-SKU variants are silently dropped. The brand may not realise 240 variants are invisible on Amazon until a customer asks why a product disappeared. 5. **3PL impact is loud.** When the 3PL receives a fulfilment instruction with a missing SKU, the picker can't find the SKU label on the shelf. Either the order delays, the picker substitutes, or the warehouse calls customer-service. All friction. 6. **Action: bulk-fix via Shopify import/export.** Export all variants, populate SKU column based on a naming convention (e.g. `[product_handle]-[colour]-[size]`), re-import. Coverage rises to \~100% in minutes. Worth doing as a quarterly hygiene action. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together SKU Coverage is the catalogue-hygiene canary. Companions: | Card | Why pair it with SKU Coverage | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Top SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-skus) | The velocity card is meaningless when coverage is broken; fix coverage first. | | [Top Products by Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/top-products-by-revenue) | Product-level revenue ranking; complements SKU-level. | | [Missing Descriptions](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/products-missing-description) | Catalogue-hygiene cousin; products without descriptions affect SEO. | | [Missing SEO](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/missing-seo-title-count) | Catalogue-hygiene cousin; products without SEO meta affect organic. | | [Product Status](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/product-status) | Active vs draft vs archived; coverage on draft/archived doesn't matter. | | [Catalogue Drift vs Amazon](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/catalogue-drift-vs-amazon) | Coverage gaps drive marketplace mismatches. | | [Inventory Distribution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/inventory-distribution) | Missing-SKU variants don't appear in inventory tracking. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Shopify Admin:** > **Shopify Admin → Products → All products** filtered by *SKU is empty* The most direct equivalent. Count of matching products / total active products = coverage. Should match this card to within sync-lag tolerance. Other Shopify Admin views: * **Bulk editor (Products → Bulk actions → Edit products)**: shows SKU column for bulk fix. * **Apps like Stocky, Inventory Planner**: typically refuse to track variants without SKUs; their dashboards show how many are excluded. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Shopify Admin:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ----------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Active filter** | We filter; Admin may not | We exclude draft and archived variants; Shopify Admin's *SKU is empty* filter includes them by default. | | **Sync lag** | Either, transient | Catalogue updates lag 5-15 min during heavy edits. | | **Bundle / virtual variants** | Either | Bundle apps create virtual variants; whether they're "active" depends on app config. | | **Product type exclusions** | We don't exclude by default | Configurable: `productType` exclusions for Gift Card, Digital, Bundle. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`amazon_sp.amazon_listing_count`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amazon_listing_count) | Should equal Shopify's variant count for cross-listed catalogue | If coverage is 90% and you sync to Amazon, expect Amazon's count to be \~90% of Shopify's variant count. | | 3PL / WMS catalogue size | Should equal Shopify variant count | 3PL only receives SKU-populated variants; missing-SKU variants are dropped silently. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`bigcommerce.sku_coverage`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/sku-coverage) * [`adobe_commerce.sku_coverage`](/nerve-centre/adobe_commerce/sku_coverage)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why does coverage matter?** Five downstream consumers depend on SKUs: 1. **Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy)**: require SKU to list; missing-SKU variants are silently dropped. 2. **3PL / fulfilment partners**: pick orders by SKU; missing-SKU variants cause pick failures. 3. **Inventory-management apps (Stocky, Inventory Planner, Cogsy)**: track stock by SKU; missing-SKU variants don't appear in forecasts. 4. **Accounting / ERP integrations (Xero, NetSuite, QuickBooks)**: post sales by SKU; missing-SKU variants accumulate as "unknown product" entries. 5. **Bulk catalogue feeds (Google Shopping, Meta Catalog)**: require SKU as the unique identifier for ad serving. **Why do new variants come in without SKUs?** Default Shopify product creation doesn't require SKU. Two patterns: 1. **Manual creation by content team**: marketing-focused contributors think in product names, not SKUs. Easy oversight. 2. **App-imported products**: some apps create variants without populating SKU (relying on Shopify variant ID). These are typically the worst offenders. **Action:** mandate SKU as required field via Shopify product-template customisation, or review at end-of-week. **What's a healthy coverage threshold?** For most brands, 99-100% should be the target. The 95% alert threshold is a "wake up" signal; persistent operation at 95-98% indicates process gaps. **Should I exclude gift cards and digital products?** Yes if your business policy doesn't track them by SKU. Configure exclusions in *Nerve Centre → Catalogue → SKU Coverage Filters*. Defaults exclude `productType IN ('Gift Card')`. **My SKU strings have prefixes / suffixes; does that matter?** For coverage purposes, no; non-empty string suffices. For downstream consumers, format matters. Example: a 3PL may require alphanumeric only (`HOMEWARES-001`); some marketplaces require ASIN-format (12-char alphanumeric). Audit per-channel SKU naming policies. **Why are some variants showing twice?** Duplicate SKUs are a separate problem from missing SKUs. This card measures presence, not uniqueness. Pair with a duplicate-SKU report (on roadmap) to find variants with the same SKU; they confuse downstream systems just as much as missing ones. **Subscription products, do they need SKUs?** Yes. Recurring orders create line items with SKUs; if missing, the recurring billing has no product reference. Subscription apps like ReCharge, Bold, or native Shopify Subscriptions require SKUs. **Action playbook to fix coverage:** 1. **Bulk export** all active variants to CSV. 2. **Identify missing SKU rows** (filter on empty SKU column). 3. **Apply naming convention** in CSV: e.g. `{handle}-{option1}-{option2}`. 4. **Bulk import** the CSV; Shopify updates SKUs in batch. 5. **Verify coverage** rises to \~100% on this card. 6. **Process change**: make SKU a required field in your product-creation checklist; consider a Shopify Function to enforce it server-side. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *SKU Coverage* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Shopify 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.