Product identifiers are short codes used by both people and automated systems to quickly identify products. Shoppers use them when searching for products, and merchants use them for accounting, inventory, and listing products on other channels/marketplaces (like eBay and Amazon).

 

Adding Product Identifiers

Most product identifiers can be added in the Product Identifiers section when adding or editing products in the control panel.

 

Using the legacy Adding Products (v2) experience? If your store is using the Products v2 experience, your control panel will look and behave differently from what is documented here. See Adding Products (v2).

  • Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) — An identifier for trade items that is incorporated into several product identification standards, such as ISBN, UPC, and EAN.
  • Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) — MPN is a series of letters or numbers assigned to the product by its manufacturer. There is no MPN standard, so its format can vary between different manufacturers/companies.
  • UPC/EAN — UPC-A is a 12-digit GTIN barcode standard dominant in North America, and UPC-E is a 6-digit code for smaller items. EAN is widely used outside of North America.

Product Identifier fields in the Add/Edit tab

If your products are stored in a warehouse and you would like to add a product location identifier for inventory and fulfillment, you can add and edit the Bin Picking Number (BPN) when editing stock levels and product availability at locations. See Multi-Location for more information on using the inventory editor.

Inventory editor with BPN field highlighted.

Adding Product Identifiers in Bulk

Some product identifiers are also importable fields when adding or updating products via CSV import. You can also bulk edit the UPC/EAN field from the control panel.

Product Identifiers for SKUs/Variants

You can add SKU-specific identifiers to your variants while adding or editing a product in the control panel. Select your desired identifiers from the Edit columns dropdown in the Variations section to display them in the table below. Once displayed, add your identifier values to their corresponding SKUs.

Note: Variant-level GTIN does not appear in the control panel, but it can be created and updated via the modern Product Import/Export experience or the Catalog API.

Select your identifiers from the Edit columns dropdown to display them in the Variants table.

 

FAQ

I don't know my product's identifiers. How/where do I find them?

MPN and UPC/EAN are typically assigned by a product's manufacturer. You may need to contact them or your supplier/distributor. If you are the manufacturer, there are several online services available to register UPC/EANs for your products.

How can I display product identifiers on my storefront?

Once added, UPCs/EANs appear automatically on product pages. Some Stencil themes in the Theme Marketplace, such as Supermarket, allow you to display additional identifiers.

To display a product identifier that is not included in your theme's settings, add it to your products as a custom field.

Can two or more products or variants share the same identifier?

Identifiers like UPC/EAN and MPN can be shared across multiple products or variants. However, products and variants cannot use the same SKU.