Introduction

This article provides a brief introduction to how SKUs and EAN numbers work in TRAEDE, and how they relate to the Shopify integration. Understanding SKUs is essential for ensuring correct product synchronization, variation matching, and inventory updates between TRAEDE and Shopify.

This guide is useful for anyone managing product data or maintaining Shopify integrations.

How TRAEDE works with SKUs and EAN numbers

Understanding SKUs in TRAEDE

In TRAEDE, each product variation contains two important fields:

• SKU

• EAN

The SKU is the key identifier used for synchronization with Shopify.

How SKUs determine product existence

• Shopify does not have an “item number” field, only SKUs.

• TRAEDE therefore checks SKUs to determine whether a product variation already exists in Shopify.

• Example:
  If the SKU BLACK exists in Shopify, TRAEDE assumes the black variation already exists and will update it rather than create a new one.

Because of this, TRAEDE should always be the system that creates and pushes products to Shopify. This ensures SKUs stay consistent between systems.

SKUs and inventory synchronization

TRADE uses the SKU to synchronize inventory to Shopify.

If SKUs do not match between TRAEDE and Shopify:

• Inventory cannot synchronize correctly

• Product variations may not link between systems

For this reason, consistent SKUs are critical.

Changing SKUs

If you want to change a SKU:

• You must change it manually in both TRAEDE and Shopify

• TRAEDE cannot update an existing SKU in Shopify automatically

Example:

• Change the SKU in TRAEDE

• Then manually update the same SKU in Shopify

If only one system is updated, synchronization will break.

EAN numbers

EAN numbers are simpler:

• Shopify has a barcode/EAN field

• TRAEDE fills this field with the EAN number stored in TRAEDE

• Example: The EAN shown under Barcode in Shopify will match exactly with the EAN in TRAEDE

EANs do not affect product creation logic—they are synchronized as regular data fields.