Taming of the SKU

by Abe Sherman – CEO, BIG – Buyers Intelligence Group

May 23, 2023

In preparation for the upcoming shows, we’ve been having calls with retailers as well as BIG Network suppliers and some of the suppliers have asked me to share a request: Please enter their style numbers exactly as they appear on their invoices!

It’s not uncommon for people entering style numbers into their POS systems to be “creative”.  Instead of entering things with “/” or “–“ or “SO” (for special order) or finger sizes, customer’s last names or *’s, please just enter style number EXACTLY THE WAY IT APPEARS ON THE INVOICE.  We have a team here whose job is to map the styles from the way jewelers enter them into their POS systems to exactly the way the supplier intended. This is an ongoing process that not only slows down the reporting process but adds confusion when we cannot identify what style was intended.

Now, I can already hear you yelling from behind your computer screens – why do vendors have to use the most difficult combination of numbers and letters on the planet?!  Not to mention the length of some of the style numbers!! But these style numbers are (usually) created for specific purposes and many contain important information about the item.  For you to have accurate and consistent reporting capabilities, even in your own system, entering the vendor’s style number exactly as it is on the invoice, is the key to success.

Each time an incorrect style number comes into our database, it needs to be corrected on our end. The vast majority of the time, our system will catch the incorrect numbers since chances are that same error had been entered in the past. However, there remains many thousands of instances when we receive an incorrect style for the first time.  We all need to do our part. When jewelers enter the style number correctly, suppliers are able to see real-time sell-through data and on-hand inventory. Our goal is to continue to improve communication between retailer and supplier. When the style numbers are wrong, it slows the entire process down.

For your convenience, below is a link to our Vendor’s Style Guides that will show you by point-of-sale, how to enter inventory correctly for several of our vendor partners. You will even find, in some cases, breakdowns of the style number that explain the method behind their madness.

With over 100 brands and growing, we are continuing our commitment to improving communication between retailers and suppliers. One of the keys to successful communication is entering accurate style numbers.

https://bigjewelers.com/vendor-style-guides/

We appreciate your participation in the BIG Network.  Please share this with your inventory / data-entry teams and, as always, let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you!